


Transgredi

by proudprussian



Series: The Transgredi Universe [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Bad Pickup Lines, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, SI-OC, Sabo is playing catch up, Self-Insert, Someone needs to teach Ace how to flirt, all the references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 11:58:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 51,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11252697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proudprussian/pseuds/proudprussian
Summary: [transgedi - to travel across, to go to the other side]An Outlier finds themselves in the world of One Piece, determined. To write the greatest of adventures. To prevent tragedy occurring to their captain. To stop a corrupt government. To be free.





	1. antelogium

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided that I needed to have a visual representation of the SI-OC that is the main character, Ebony Black. Feel free to go and check it out!  
> [black "crow queen" ebony](https://www.pinterest.com.au/prussiancrow/aes-one-piece/si-ebony-black/)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[antelogium - introduction, prologue.]_  
> 
> An Outlier in the world of One Piece decides to throw their lot in with the Straw Hat Pirate Crew, two years before they're even formed. (IE. An introduction of sorts to a SI-OC in the world of One Piece.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers, I really hope you enjoy this fic!
> 
> (BTW I haven't abandoned 'This Could Be a Catastrophe' and I have the next chapter half written, but I've lost all inspiration for it at the moment.)

I had been in this world for about a year and a half now. Somehow when that bastard got a hold of the necklace I was wearing it started to glow something fierce, ending up with me blacking out and waking up to find myself in the middle of nowhere. A deserted island somewhere off the port of Loguetown. 

That’s right, I had somehow been transported into a fictional world where the fish are bigger than the tigers and just as deadly, if not more so. I’d kept an eye out for the usual suspects, Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of his merry band of occasionally bloodthirsty crew mates, but I’d apparently landed earlier. I would say two years early, because I had read (and found out for myself) that a certain Portgas D. Ace was still his own captain and not a division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Honestly though, that was pretty good for me. I want. No. I needed to be a Straw-Hat. Something is telling me that that is the reason why Im here in this world. And truthfully I couldn’t just sit back and watch from the sidelines whilst those terrifyingly incredible adventures were going on.

Damn I wanted to write about them, to meet the incredible people that I only knew from fiction, to find out more about _them_ and not _of_ them.

Though I wasn’t entirely sure what I could contribute towards the crew. I was a good swimmer, both in sprints and distance and I had only made myself stronger by training in this world. (The lack of pollution in this world actually helped out with that and it was so nice to see the stars without light pollution, even if the constellations were not the same as back home.) Perhaps the Straw Hats would want a dedicated life guard/ swimmer to back up all the devil fruit users on the ship? 

I could draw and write, too. I mean studying a Bachelors degree in Visual Arts and another in Mythology and English would mean that my writing and art skills may be up to par to help chronicle the adventures of the crew. Would they even want someone like that? Would Luffy want a chronicler? Despite my misgivings at what would I accomplish for the Straw Hat crew, I would have to actually convince them to allow my aboard the Going Merry first to join the crew. And that in itself would be a chore.

 

* * *

 

When I’d first come here I had very little in the way of possessions; just the things that I had on me when I had first arrived in this world. And because I had been on my way to class at the time had left me with a good deal of stuff, namely a backpack full of my technology and art supplies as well as a bag with my lunch and dinner.  I was well stocked; for a day or so if I rationed it out and the water bottles that I had brought with me would last a little while, especially considering I’d been planning on pulling a really long all nighter at university with finals coming up.

I had been rescued a few days after I arrived by a passing marine vessel, a transportation one luckily and considering any and all methods of payment I had I couldn’t really pay them. I had offered some artworks of mine in placement, as well as in gratitude (it had hit me sometime at midnight the previous evening that I was no longer in any place that I was familiar with and could have died as easily as anything), the captain humoured me and had a look at some of my work and surprisingly it worked.  (I always said I wanted to get my art out into the world, but this wasn"t how I initially pictured it happening.) The gift of my art towards those marines had managed to garner the attention of some wealthier clients that the marines were escorting and suddenly I had commissions. Not a bad thing, getting some money now would only help in the long run.

Money and getting my art out to the world! Who wouldn’t be pleased with that? The only thing is that I used the pseudonym of Morrigan. If I wanted to be a pirate, I couldn’t really have that interfering with the sale and production of my art. I mean, I"m nothing if not practical. (And the simple fact that I didn’t want all my hard work and long hours in studios to go to waste simple because my name was associated with piracy.)

So after my miraculous rescue, I had tried to set myself up within the port town as a bartender and general handy-person. It didn’t work as well as what I had hoped (being a handy-person that is), and in between what little jobs I did get and selling pieces of artwork, and the bartending towards a rowdy group of either drunk Marine recruits or pirates, I was making a small living. I wasn’t going to starve anytime soon, but as my father would say, I was only surviving not living. And I wanted to live. A lot changed after I rescued a couple of kids from drowning. This actually surprised me. We’re surrounded by water and the children of Loguetown for the most part, did not know how to swim or perform basic CPR. 

I had somehow become the one person to go to for swimming lessons, partially due to my friendly and supposedly approachable nature. I actually asked some of the parents about them coming to me when I had assumed that there would have been local teachers. They would tell me that there were only three ways for the children to learn how to swim. One was that a family member would teach them, but that was gradually becoming lesser and lesser. Second was to join the marines. Not even just asking for basic survival skills, no. You had to join up if you wished to learn how to swim and the majority of the parents and older siblings that I had spoken to did not wish to force their younger relatives into a career choice that they did not choose themselves. 

Becoming a pirate, or even knowing a pirate was the third and final option. (And with the marine presence in town this wasn’t always a viable option.)

 

* * *

 

I'd been scouting along the port for a few days now, ever since the bounty poster of a certain Straw Hat Luffy had been issued. I didn’t want to miss them, as this would be my only chance (unless I somehow begged passage on the Cannibal’s ship in two years time, but I could not and would not do this. Not if I could stop the whole Marineford debacle. This reminded me, he was such a fanboy of anything Straw Hat, would this include me in the future?) to get away from here.

And then I saw it. The Going Merry pulling into port. She looked just as I remembered, maybe even more magnificent.

I did the only thing that made any sense to me at the time and ran full sprint towards it.

"Monkey D. Luffy!"

The straw hatted teenager turned around and faced me. It was odd, considering that I had been waiting for this for almost two years and now it was here I wasn’t feeling any nerves at all.

"What do you want?"

His voice was exactly as I had remembered, although with a slight twinge of an accent that I couldn’t quite recognise. (Maybe a local dialect?)

“I would like to humbly request to join your crew and serve as your chronicler, Future Pirate King!"

I could tell that I had shocked the crew standing behind their captain. This was the first time that anyone had actually asked to join the crew. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try my best to write a longfic with this one. I'm far more used to writing one shots and really, incredibly short chapters. Whilst this is only the introduction/prologue, I'm going to try and write at least four chapters before university goes back at the end of July; if I can get those written, I'll upload them two-three weeks apart. (I can't guarantee this, but fingers crossed!)
> 
>  
> 
> _Cross-posted on FanFiction_


	2. auspicium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _auspicium - beginning, omen_  
>   
> 
> The Straw Hat crew arrives at Loguetown and meet their (hopeful) new member, an Outlier who knows to much about things, places and people that they definitely shouldn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hoped you like the last chapter, which technically was a prologue, here is the REAL start of the adventure. Enjoy!

"Monkey D. Luffy!" 

The crew as one turned to the sound of the voice. 

"What do you want?"

Luffy had shouted back. His voice wasn’t confrontational, just questioning. Nami and Usopp started to fret, thinking that a bounty hunter had already decided to target their captain for his bounty.

“I would like to humbly request to join your crew and serve as your chronicler, Future Pirate King!" 

This caused the crew to jaw drop. They didn’t realise that people would actually walk up to their captain at random to request to join

"Of course!"

The current Straw Hat pirates all winced; of course they’d been expecting Luffy to outright accept the stranger’s request to join the crew but they didn’t expect it to be quite so forthright. 

On second thoughts, it was exactly like the captain to do so. 

"Oi Luffy! What if they’re a bounty hunter that wants to kill us all?" Usopp was shaking in his boots, whilst Nami was hiding behind Sanji. 

"They look like a good guy! And we need someone to record our adventures!" Luffy was still grinning at the hooded stranger. 

Zoro took one look at the stranger and held out a hand, which the stranger took. 

"If Luffy says that you're a good guy, then I'll take his word for it." With that Zoro yanked the stranger forward causing them to let out a surprised yelp. "But you even think about betraying him, betraying us, and you’ll be dealing with me, got it."

"Crystal clear, Pirate Hunter." The voice of the Straw Hat"s newest member was surprisingly smooth, with an even timber and could have belonged to either gender.

"Now that that is sorted, I’m off to explore where they kill people!" Zoro looked close to rolling his eyes at his captain, whilst Sanji huffed out a breathy laugh in between taking a drag of his already lit cigarette. Nami actually face-palmed, whilst Usopp  If that comment bothered the newest member of the Straw Hats, it didnt show.

"If you go past that alley on the left, there’s a bar named after the former Pirate King and the pirate in there has some fantastic stories, too. It’s just a bit further than that, captain."

"Shishishi! Thanks?" 

It was then that the Straw Hats realised that they didn’t actually know their newest crew mates name

"Wow, I knew I’d forgotten something. My name is Ebony. Ebony Black," The hooded figure tilted their head and clarified, "Black being my last name and Ebony my first."

"Thanks Ebony!" And with that Monkey D. Luffy took off in the direction that they"d mentioned, with the Straw Hats watching their captain take off.

"Thank you." Ebony had turned and bowed towards those left. "I understand your wariness, but I appreciate this opportunity nonetheless and I will earn your trust."

 

* * *

 

Now the nerves seemed to kick in. I really wanted them to accept me, but I know that all of them have trust issues and me being me, with all my knowledge of the future and the past and tidbits of information that would get me killed by numerous people throughout this world."Why do you want to join our crew, anyway?" 

This got me to stand up. Usopp had asked me the question and I intended to answer as truthfully as I could without telling a flat out lie.

"I overheard a pirate a few years ago talking about his brother to his crew."  

This was entirely true. I’d taken a job a bartender when I first arrived here and I happened to stumble onto a conversation in the bar I was tending where there was a very inebriated Portgas D. Ace waxing poetic about his baby brother (amongst other things) and how he wished to become King of the Pirates.

"He seemed bloody proud to be the older brother to this kid whose name he mentioned was Luffy. And considering the similarities between the two, I took a wild guess."

I thought for a moment and added, "Also I think it would be best for the Pirate King to have his story be told as it truly stands rather than by World Government propaganda."

"It"ll be nice to have another girl on the crew!" 

Nami seemed excited by this prospect, so did Sanji by the way he seemed to turn into a weird noodle man. 

"Too much testosterone?" I asked dryly.

"Definitely!" 

We laughed together, which helped the two weaker members of the crew to relax a little. Zoro was still eyeing me warily, but that was to be expected.

“We'd better get what we need before the marines notice that we’re here." Usopp was looking at the very noticeable Marine Headquarters in the middle of the street.

“I'll go grab my stuff. Will we be meeting back here?"

Nami nodded and looked at her watch, "In an hour, or if Luffy causes any damage."

I laughed and agreed, all of us going our separate ways.

I had things to do, and people to see.

 

* * *

 

I hadn’t initially planned to make contact with the Revolutionaries, but I couldn’t stand thinking that if I failed to save Ace that he would die believing Luffy to be the sole remaining Grey Terminal brother. I needed to somehow get Sabo to remember earlier. I needed to get his amnesia sorted out, and I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about doing it.

That is why I need to talk to Dragon. And short of trying to find him myself, which would be impossible with the resources at my disposal (or lack there of), this would be the only opportunity that I would have.

And I'm absolutely terrified. How on earth would I explain this to the Most Wanted World in the World? That the brother that his son had thought lost had spent the last ten years as an amnesiac in the employ (of a sort) of his mysterious father?

A few weeks back I’d posted an ad in a newspaper that I hoped they, or someone from the Revolutionaries would read. It had said something along the lines of ‘ _rubber monkey crew and crow_ _queen needs advice from a wyvern about an amnesiac top hat with goggles’_. And I’d hoped to the gods that it would work. A few days afterwards I’d found a note mentioning a time, a date and a place.  

"You wished to talk?" His voice was deep, a lot deeper than what I could initially remember it being, having the same slight accent that Luffy’s had.

Taking a deep breath, I fiddled with the envelope I had for him to give to Sabo 

"I do. I know a whole lot of stuff that I really shouldn’t about a whole lot of stuff that I definitely shouldn’t know."

Taking a seat and an even deeper breath I started to explain my situation. 

"That seems far fetched."

My hand started to shake, thinking that I had made a mistake. This was a man that I did not want to piss off, regardless of his position of Most Wanted Man in the World, leader of the Revolutionaries or as the father of Monkey D. Luffy.

"But that is not to say that I do not believe you. I have members of my organisation that claim to be from worlds other than our own."

"So you mean to say that not only do you believe me, there are others like me?"

"That would be correct. However you are the first that has come to me saying that this world in your own was fictional."

That means that I am the only one from Earth to have arrived here; all I could think was where were the others pulled from? And did I know those worlds as fictional in my own?

"That seems fair." 

We stared at each other for a moment before I could hear a commotion. That could only mean one thing and the both of us seemed to realise this.

"I need to get back to my captain. I was wondering if you would be able to give this to a certain amnesiac blond when you see him? It may explain a lot of things and his non-blood family really do miss him."

I handed Dragon the envelope, my hand only shaking a little bit as I did. I couldn’t help it, the man had earned his reputation and I couldn’t help but be a little wary, a little scared of him.

He looked at the envelope and nodded, passing me a miniature den den mushi. I’d bought a few of my own for the crew a while back, so I knew how they worked, I was just surprised that he trusted me enough to give me one.

"If you have anything to ask, or information to provide please use this."

"Thank you. I really should be going now."

Dragon inclined his head towards me and I turned and ran towards the sound of the commotion. 

Luffy was currently on top of the executioners stand, with Buggy proclaiming loudly about how Luffy was now going to die. 

"THIS EXECUTION IS OVER!" A loud shout rang out; I couldn’t tell if this was said by Zoro or Sanji or both.

I found Zoro and Sanji just as the fighting began.

"Is it always going to be like this?" I shouted towards Sanji who had just drop kicked a machete wielding pirate; I myself had just punched a man and probably broke his nose with a pair of knuckle dusters made with seastone. (I wasn’t taking any chances; I had had them custom ordered through a certain fanged, or was is tusked, fanboy.)

"Seems to be!" Sanji shouted back.

"Less talking!" Came the ordered yell of the first mate as he slashed his way through another three pirates.

"Sorry guys! But I’m dead!"

"NO!" I knew he wouldn't die here, but in the moment it was one of the singular most terrifying moments of my life. 

The lightning had come out of nowhere, knocking the execution platform down along with knocking out many of the closest pirates, including Buggy and Alvida. I’m not entirely religious, to be in this world I had to believe in some higher omnipotent power, but fate had seriously intervened.

"Hey, do you believe in God?" Sanji was shaken, as was Zoro but he hid it well.

"Enough talking," Zoro put his swords back in their spots. “Let's leave here. We’ve got enough trouble coming for us as it is."

"SURROUND THE TOWN SQUARE AND CONTAIN ALL THE PIRATES!"

"Shishsishishi! Let’s make run for it guys!" 

The four of us took off in the direction of the Going Merry, outrunning the chasing marines and pirates alike. The wind and rain were increasingly getting worse as we got further away from the Town Square, away from where Smoker was arresting Buggy and the rest of the pirates.

"The wind’s getting worse." 

"Really, I hadn’t noticed." At my comment Luffy gave off another one of his laughs.

"These guys are so persistent. Any chance of stopping and fighting them off?" There was a slight whine to Zoro"s voice as he asked the question.

"There won’t be an end to them if you do that; besides Nami-swan wanted us back to the ship as soon as possible."

I had to interject after Sanji had spoken, "Besides, you wouldn’t want to fight Captain Smoker. Not at the moment at least, he’s strong. Too strong to be stationed here."

"RORONOA ZORO!" A very pissed of female voice shouted. At the end of the street Tashigi was panting, clearly having run after us. "YOU LIED TO ME! YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE A PIRATE, YOU BASTARD!"

Sanji turned to Zoro and looked as if he were about to strangle him but held himself back from actually doing so. 

"What did you did, marimo?!" 

"He probably didn’t do anything, Sanji." I muttered under my breath.

"The writer is right." 

I didn’t think anyone would have actually heard me, considering how quiet I had actually spoken but we were running very close to each other so it probably couldn't be helped.

"You never asked for my name! I never lied to you." 

Zoro sounded pissed, but looked incredibly bored and Sanji was visibly trying to restrain himself from doing something to the swordsman. I couldn’t help it, but I laughed. The whole situation was absolutely ridiculous, and I knew that in the future it would become even more ridiculous as the crew progressed throughout the Grand Line.

However knowing Tashigi, she wouldn’t accept that as an answer. 

"I'm going to take Wado Ichimonji from you, so that it will never fall into the hands of a pirate ever again!"

Tashigi was readying herself for a fight, as was Zoro who had seen her pull her weapon. 

Zoro grinned, a little bit of the famed Demon of the East Blue poking through. "I dare you to try it."

We ran towards Tashigi, only Zoro stopping to fight with her; telling us to go on ahead and that he"d catch up with us.

"That bastard dares to harm a lady!" 

Luffy had to snag the back of Sanji"s suit to keep him from running off back towards Zoro and Tashigi.

"I think she went after him first." I stated with a shake of my head. 

Sanji couldn’t help but sigh, even a ladies man like him could see that to be the truth (even if he didn’t want to accept it.) We continued running for what seemed like forever, when I spotted with dread Smoker. The man was intimidating. In my time in Loguetown he had broken up enough fights and arrested enough pirates at the bar I worked at for me to be on a first name basis with the man. I had told him once that I was going to leave and become a pirate, sail under the man who would become a legend.

He never really believed me, always going on about me being a stupid kid. (Kind of true, but I needed to make the most of what was given to me and all the resources and lives I had known from my own world had been taken from me. I could only do what I knew.)

“Someone's up ahead!" 

"Eh, another one?" I honestly don"t think Luffy could have sounded more bored, apathetic if he tried.

"That"s Smoker."

"So you’ve come, Straw Hat Luffy."

"So you’re Captain Smoker." 

This was different from what I remembered, perhaps considering I’d actually said to the others who he was before they’d met changed the script up a bit?

"So the infamous Crow Queen"s told you who I am?"

Sanji, Smoker and Luffy all looked towards me, likely pinpointing me as the culprit.

"I won’t be allowing you to leave Loguetown!" 

The logia was now everywhere, encompassing Luffy who looked surprised. Sanji tried to kick Smoker but as expected went straight through. I was the only one there that would have had a chance to do anything, but I didn’t want to lose the ace up my sleeve too soon. I’d need those seastone knuckles to be kept as much as a secret as I could for as long as I could. It wouldn’t do for the Marines to take notice of the very illegal supply within the underground. 

"I don’t have time for runts." With that, Smoker threw Sanji off of him and into a building behind us. 

**"GOMU-GOMU NO PISTOL!"**

I had been waiting for that signature move since we had become cornered; however it just went straight through the marine captain.

"Are you really worth thirty million beli?" He sounded so incredibly disappointed that this was all my captain had offered him, he really did sound and look as though he expected more. I should have guessed that he was like Zoro, always looking forward to the next fight and always hoping it would be a good one. Smoker had slammed Luffy’s head into the ground and I went to move forward, I couldn’t not do something, but I was held back by someone.

Looking up, Dragon had put a hand on my shoulder and shook his head ever so slightly and then he was gone.

“Look's like your luck has run out." Dragon had reached out and grabbed Smoker by the wrist. 

"Or perhaps not."

"You!" Smoker looked shocked and then angered, "The World Government is after your head you know!"

"The world awaits our answer!"

The storm had kicked up a notch and had managed to send what seemed to be a whole squadron of marines towards us. Sanji had somehow made his way over to me, and stood in front of me managing to kick some of the marines away before they could hit the pair of us.

"Mah, thank you."

"My pleasure Ebony-chan." He somehow managed to sound suave and hopeful all at once.

"Guys!" Zoro's panicked shout came from behind us, "We need to make a run for it! We're going to get trampled otherwise! There’s a massive storm on it's way!"

This kicked the three of into action, with all of us running for our lives.

"That must have been what Nami-chwan meant!" Sanji had simultaneously started to do his noodle dance and run at the same time. I really am never going to understand some of the things in this world, but funnily enough devil fruits won’t be one of them, but more so the behaviours of some people.

We'd somehow made it to the ship in time, as the rope holding the Going Merry at port was on its last legs. 

"Luffy! Hurry up, this rope won't last much longer!" Usopp was struggling with said piece of rope with all of his might.

"What took you guys so long?" Nami looked like she had had enough and wanted out.

"Oh, you know. The marines. Buggy. The usual." I shouted back to her and she sighed and shook her head.

"I hope you’ve realised what you’re getting yourself in for!"

I laughed in response.

"Hurry up and get on board! We need to leave now!"

Scrambling up onto the ship, we managed to get everyone and everything on board before the rope snapped and the storm started to push us out onto the open waters.

"Look up ahead! The entrance to the Grand Line! It’s just past that lighthouse!"

I couldn’t help but stare in amazement at the scene in front of me. Despite, or because of it I'm not entirely sure, the storm the ocean looked incredible. The rough waters, and the sea kings in the future would be a problem but we would overcome those barriers. 

"So what shall we do?"

"We haven’t introduced ourselves to our newest member!" The captain interjected. I found myself to be in agreement with Luffy. I hadn’t technically been introduced to the others, despite me knowing their names anyway. (Although I had spoken to Zoro with the name Pirate Hunter earlier on in the day, but that could be chalked up to rumours. And I had met Ace, so that could be the reason why and how I knew Luffy's name in the first place.)

"I'm Nami, the navigator and treasurer of the Straw Hat Pirates."

"I'm Captain Usopp!" Luffy smacked Usopp over the head at this, causing me to chuckle, "Er, Usopp and I'm the Sniper."

"You already know me."

"You have garnered attention, Roronoa Zoro. I doubt there isn’t a pirate, criminal or bounty hunter that doesn’t know your name in the East Blue."

"What does that make you then?" There was a challenge in his eyes and I couldn’t refuse it.

"An ex-bartender at a place known for being visited by pirates, criminals and bounty hunters alike. Although I'm here now, I suppose that just makes me a pirate."

He laughed at this, which I counted as a good sign.

"Ebony-chan! I’m Sanji and I’m the chef!" I couldn’t help but imagine him with puppy ears and a wagging tail he was so enthusiastic. 

"So, we’ve reached the Grand Line. This calls for a celebration!"

So this was the famous barrel scene and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. Sanji had moved a large barrel into the centre of where we all were and placed his foot on top of it.

"To find the All Blue!"

"To become the King of the Pirates!" 

"To be the Greatest Swordsman!"

 "To draw a map of the world!" 

"To… become a brave warrior of the sea!" 

"To chronicle the greatest of adventures!" 

With a large crash we all brought our feet down at once, the barrel splintering at our feet to grins and cheers from all six of us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently working on the next chapter, which at this point is over halfway completed so that should be up in the next two weeks. Work is kicking my butt, as is preparation for the next semester at university. (Fingers crossed!)


	3. tentus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[tentus - comprehend, hold, keep]_  
>  A letter makes it's way to a certain top hat and the Straw Hat Crew finds out more about their Outlier (as does the Outlier).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I didn't expect so many people to actually enjoy this fic, it's such a nice feeling to see people leaving kudos, bookmarking and subscribing. So thank you! It can only be onwards and upwards from here, right? I'm updating a little (okay, A LOT) sooner than what I thought, however the next chapter will take a lot longer to write than what I've been doing for the last ones.

“NAMI! THE LIGHT JUST WENT OUT!”

Luffy’s shout rang out through the ship, spurring us all into action and for the most part panicking at this admission, but Nami didn’t look to worried.

“That was our guiding light, too!”

“Captain, lighthouses go out from time to time.” I pointed out before anyone else could.

“Besides, it’s for time like these you have a navigator, you know?” Nami sounded from above us. “So don’t worry. I know the basic direction at least.”

“You’re amazing, Nami!” Luffy shouted excitedly, stars in his eyes. Sanji was nodding beside me in agreement.

“Can you get off of there please?” Nami had only just realised where Luffy was hanging from.

“No! This is my spot!” His excited tone had become indignant.

“WHEN DID I SAY I WANTED IT?” The shark teeth had appeared once again.

“This is rather troubling however,” Nami was looking down at a map for what I was assuming the Grand Line, “At this rate, it’ll be what the rumours have said.”

She suddenly gasped and ran into the galley, beckoning for us all to follow her.

“What have you realised, Nami?”

She gave me a look, “Why do you think I’ve realised something?”

“People don’t just gasp and run inside with everyone else following them for no reason.”

“She makes a point, witch.”

Sanji glared at Zoro and made to open his mouth to comment when Nami spoke over the top of him.

“The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain.” It was a dramatic moment, especially once she slammed the map onto the table. I was half expecting there to be background music.

“A mountain?”

Everyone was a little confused, looking at Nami like she had genuinely lost her mind. Usopp’s mouth was dropped open, Zoro looked a little angry and Luffy had his head tilted to the side like a puppy. Sanji and I were the only ones who hadn’t reacted too much, myself because I knew what was coming and Sanji, probably because he was from the North Blue and had had to come to the South Blue somehow.

“Precisely my reaction, I had a pretty difficult time believing it myself when I looked at the map, but look at it!” She pointed at the map, directly towards the lighthouse. “The light of guidance was pointing directly at Reverse Mountain which is located here on the Red Line.”

“Does that mean we have to crash through a mountain?”

“Is that even possible without breaking the ship?” I couldn’t help but be curious.

Continuing to explain whilst pointing at the map, “No, there’s a waterway right here.”

“A waterway? Are you crazy? Even if that is a waterway, there’s no way a ship could climb UP a mountain.” Usopp couldn’t believe what Nami was suggesting.

“Usopp, if that’s what the map says then we probably should do what it asks. Especially if Nami believes it.” I couldn’t help but point out to the sniper, who still looked at Nami and the map in disbelief.

“Exactly. That’s what the map says.” “As if what Nami says could ever be wrong!”

“Isn’t that the map you stole from Buggy?” Zoro asked. “Can you really depend on it?”

“Are you saying that Buggy is undependable, Zoro?”

“Pretty much.” I laughed at the dry response. Luffy on the other hand wasn’t paying any attention to the lack of trust most of his crew had in the stolen map.

“Are we really going to climb up a mountain? On a ship? That sounds so cool!” The stars in his eyes doubled in size the longer he looked at the map. “It’s a magic mountain, right Ebony?”

Startled at being addressed so suddenly by the captain, I only nodded and put my thumbs up in response.

“Why do we have to go through the entrance directly in the first place? Couldn’t we just head south and then enter?”

“Zoro, you really shouldn’t have said that.”

“No we can’t!” Luffy shook his head emphatically. I almost thought that he was going to make that a captains order.

“Besides Luffy’s desire to go up a mountain, there’s probably a good reason for it.”

“Exactly Ebony.”

“It’s so much cooler to go in using the real entrance!” Luffy had completely ignored both Nami and myself, causing the both of us to sigh and look at each other.

_‘Men.’_

“Guys! The storm has suddenly stopped!” Usopp was looking out the window, hands pressed up against the frame. Luffy cheered and ran outside, followed by the ever loyal Pirate Hunter.

“You’re right.” Sanji took another drag of his cigarette.

“No, that can’t be right. The storm should have led us directly to the entrance.”

I knew that this was a bad thing to happen.

“That doesn’t sound too good, Nami.”

“No it doesn’t.”

We both heard someone shout about the weather; about how nice it was outside.

“Oh no! We’ve entered a calm belt!”

Everyone stared at the panicking Nami, unsure as to what to do.

 

* * *

 

 

Dragon arrived safely back at the Revolutionaries Headquarters, with the information that he had gathered and the envelope the stranger known as Black Ebony had given him to give to his Chief of Staff.

The advert that they had put into the newspaper was thought out, but also suspicious in a way he hadn’t believed to be possible. How many people knew about Sabo and his hat, his goggles? It was true that he was a wanted man, but these distinctive characteristics had never been shown to the world as when out on missions he would normally wear the classic hooded style that even the one called the Crow Queen had seemed to adapt.

"Sabo, I have a letter for you from the contact I mentioned I was going to meet in Loguetown. Another Outlier."

"Another one? Where from this time?"

"Earth, as they put it. This world, however is a story in their world."

This brought the Chief of Staff to a standstill.

"A story? About what?"

"They never said, only that it was a story about this world." There was silence for a moment before Dragon added, "A story that you were mentioned in, perhaps your past as well."

The blonde man gasped; he didn’t expect that at all. He’d only known his name because it was sewn into his top hat, and that he’d been in the way of the Celestial Dragons when they had gone to Goa Kingdom.

"They wanted me to give you this." He handed over the envelope and left the room, allowing Sabo to open and read it by himself. He had a feeling that it would change everything and nothing all at once. A combination that he wasn’t sure he liked or not as of yet.

 

* * *

 

 

“What’s a calm belt?”

Ignoring, or at least not hearing the questions being thrown her way Nami looked as if she were to start hyperventilating.

“Nami, take a deep breath and _breathe_.” At this point I was standing behind her, my hand on her shoulder. She didn’t shrug it off, which meant a lot considering how little she trusted strangers or new people in her life.

“Hey, look the storm is still going strong over there!”

“Weird, it’s perfectly calm here!”

“THIS IS NO TIME TO BE JUST STANDING AROUND!” Nami shouted at the rest of the crew, who were standing around admiring the lack of storm around. “WE HAVE TO RETURN TO THE STORM, NOW!”

“As you wish, Nami-swan!” Sanji was the first to jump into action, not that I would have believed otherwise.

The others however were looking at Nami like she had lost her mind.

“Why are you getting so worked up?” Luffy had stuck his finger up his nose and continued talking. “This is a ship, not a row-boat.”

“Why would we want to go back into the storm?”

“Apart from the fact that calm belts are known Sea King nesting spots?” I couldn’t help but state, only Zoro seeming to pay any attention.

“JUST SHUT UP AND DO WHAT I SAY!”

“Sea Kings? But the weather is so nice here.” Zoro looked bored, as Sanji ran around with a random oar in his arm.

Nami thrust a pointing hand into Zoro’s face, “Fine! At your suggestion we’ve drifted south!”

“What’s wrong with that? we’re in the Grand Line now, aren’t we?”

“If it were that easy, anybody would be coming and going into the Grand Line whenever they felt like it!”

I had to admit that the shark teeth that Nami was sporting were quite scary, but knowing the woman she’d probably feel as though that’s a compliment.

“Listen up everyone! The Grand Line is surrounded by two belts, known as being windless, calm. Exactly where we happen to be stuck right now!”

“It’s definitely calm, no wind at all. So what’s your point?” Zoro turned around when suddenly everything started to shake.

“This is exactly why! Freaking sea king nest!”

“WHAT!”

I was suddenly on the receiving end of the stares of my crew mates. I opened my mouth the explain more when the ship started to shake more, rising out of the ocean and into the air, knocking us all down onto the deck from the pressure.

Looking up I was suddenly staring directly into the eye of a creature that seemed to be the height of the Eureka Tower back home, possibly even taller. I’d seen smaller sea kings come into port back in the Loguetown, but never something of this size and magnitude.

“HOLY SHIT!” Luffy’s shout brought me back to reality.

“I did say it was a Sea King nest, didn’t I?”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SO EARLIER?”

“It may have slipped my mind.” And it had, in the grand scheme of things this was very _very_ tame. The Grand Line was full of stranger things, after all.

“How could something like this slip your mind?” Nami looked close to tearing her hair out.

“BACK TO MORE IMPORTANT THINGS GUYS!” I shouted at her, spinning my arms wildly in the general direction of the ocean.

“Alright, as soon as this goes back into the ocean we paddle as fast as we can!” Zoro had grabbed an oar from the storage cupboard on deck and shoved one into Luffy’s arms. I grabbed one as well and nodded.

“Sounds good!”

There was suddenly a massive rumble and a ginormous sneeze from below us, sending the ship flying with us along with it.

“A GIANT FROG IS COMING THIS WAY! AGH!”

The frog was massive, more like a toad in its colouring.

“DON’T GET THROWN OVERBOARD!”

Too late for that, as both Usopp and myself went flying.

“USOPP! EBONY!”

Quick as a flash, Luffy had wrapped himself around the lookout post and reached both arms forward grabbing both Usopp and myself by the backs of our shirts. The both of us flew backwards, hitting the deck with a loud thud and painful backs.

“Thanks captain.”

“Shishishi! No problem Ebony!”

 

* * *

 

 

Sabo didn’t quite know what to think. On one hand he really wanted to know what caused him to set sail, why he had been shot at by the Celestial Dragons (besides the obvious reasons), his past and why sometimes he could hear and see two other boys; both with black hair, one with freckles and the other a scar under his left eye. On the other, it could dredge up some unwanted things that it may have been for the best to leave behind. This feeling, however, was something that made him incredibly uncomfortable. He didn’t like it at all.

Thus his decision was made and he carefully opened the envelope.

_‘Sabo,_

_You don’t know me, nor do I know you (at least not personally). But I do know people who do, people who miss you and have thought you to be dead for the last ten years (give or take a few months.)_

_I am unsure as to how I am going to get you to remember. In the alternative universe, the other timeline you only remembered after a tragedy. A tragedy of both a personal and internationally felt nature. I will say this now, I will not allow this to take place. I cannot allow this to take place; my captain will be forever damaged, scarred mentally and physically. And you will never forgive yourself either. I cannot allow this hurt to befall either of you, nor those that hold everyone involved dear to them._

_The Marines and the World Government cannot have them.’_

Sabo was almost hyperventilating at this point. He knew now that something was missing, something incredibly important. And something would happen in the future that would change all of that, something this Outlier wished to stop from happening.

_‘I want you to remember, need you to remember if I want a hope in hell of trying to save this person from the tragedy. I’ve seen the aftermath. I never want to see it again._

_I’ve included some pictures of your brothers.’_

Sabo faulted at that. Brothers? He had brothers? That could explain the two phantom children that he sometimes saw. And they had thought him dead for a decade? He didn’t know what to think, what would he do if he were in that situation? (Although now thinking about it, he would have been in that situation in the future and may still be if this Ebony couldn’t stop whatever tragedy happening in the future from actually taking place.)

He took out two pictures from the envelope, one was of two young boys with one wearing a hat that was clearly far too big for him. The other was of the same boys, but as grown (or at least a lot older) men. Their faces were familiar, the older ones at least immediately due to the fact that the Revolutionaries had their wanted posters up on a board at their Headquarters. The younger faces made him stare though.

" _Sabo!"_

The voice was something familiar to him, he heard it in his dreams sometimes but this time it was followed by a face. The face of the younger of the two in the picture. Suddenly memories started to flood in. Of boys, wild children running from and towards jungle animals with nothing but pipes that were double the size they were; three young boys sharing a bottle of stolen sake, becoming brothers. The arguments, the laughter, the _memories_.

He screamed and passed out.

 

* * *

 

Thunder and lightning flashed through the sky. I’d landed on my back after Luffy had caught Usopp and I from going overboard; he wasn’t as lucky, landing directly on his front. I’m honestly surprised his nose wasn’t broken from the force alone.

“Thank the gods, we’re back in the storm.” Was a sentence I never thought i would hear.

“Now do you understand why we have to use the mountain?”

“Yes, understood.” Zoro sounded shaky, his head in his arms looking downwards. I caught a flash of his eyes, wide and a little frightened. 

“How did you know about the sea kings, Ebony-chan?”

I laughed at Sanji’s question.

“Mostly because people who attempted to come out into the Grand Line, mostly pirates but sometimes ordinary merchants, would get stuck and the sea kings would sink their ships. I’d be called out to help rescue them.”

“Rescue them?” Usopp had his head cocked to the side, having sat up off of the deck.

I nodded, “The marines, surprisingly don’t have a whole bunch of people who are fantastic at swimming. I’m alright, better than most, so I’d be the one they’d take out to help.”

“WHOA! We’ve got our very own lifesaver!” Luffy cheered. Knowing him as I did, that was probably a good thing as he’d jump into the ocean at the nearest opportunity.

“Ah, I got it!” Nami exclaimed, like she had suddenly had an epiphany.

“What?” Zoro had lifted his head out from his lap, an annoyed expression on his face.

“We really are going to climb the mountain.”

“Tch, you still going on about that?” He shook his head in disbelief.

“It’s got something to do with the currents, right Nami?”

“Correct; if the currents from each of the four seas were to all head towards that mountain they would be driven up the waterway.” She turned and continued to explain to the rest of the crew, still laying or sitting on the deck. “At the top, the currents merge and go out to the Grand Line. We’re already riding the currents, so all we have to worry about it steering the ship in the right direction.”

Putting her hand on her face she went to continue, but I couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Isn’t Reverse Mountain meant to be a winter island? And the fact that if we fail to get ourselves through to the mountain we’ll crash and end up at the bottom of the ocean?”

“True.”

Luffy however wasn’t really listening, “So it’s a magic mountain!”

“Pretty much.” I said at the same time as Nami, “I shouldn’t have expected you to understand…”

“Nami-swan! Ebony-chan! You’re both amazing!” The noodle dance was in full force, hearts floating above his head. 

I couldn’t help but stare at them as they started to float towards me, poking them and making them pop. I shuddered a little as the made a wet kissing sound after they’d been popped.

“Never heard of a ship going up a mountain before.”

“I’ve heard a bit.”

“About the mountain?”

“No, more like the Grand Line.”

I joined in the discussion that Zoro and Sanji were having.

“Most people, I think that the statistic is more than half, die trying to enter the Grand Line.”

“Right, entering the Grand Line is not an easy task.” Sanji smirked. 

“GUYS! I see the magic mountain!” Luffy was grinning so wide that I thought his face would split; probably the only reason that his face hadn’t split was because he was made of rubber.

“That’s a huge shadow!” Again with the human anatomy defying stunts; Usopp’s jaw had dropped to almost meet his waist. I think that would be one of the things that I would never be able to get over, not the powers gained from fruits or mad training. 

“That’s the Red Line.”  I gave a dramatic wave with my arms.

“It’s so big, you can’t see the top even through the clouds!”

“Get a good grip of the rudder! We don’t want to get dragged under!” Luffy was still grinning as he shouted out the order. Sanji and Usopp ran over to the rudder and gripped it tightly on either side.

“Just leave it to us!”

“Amazing” Nami was staring at the mountain in unfiltered shock and awe.

“I can’t believe it, the ocean  really is going up a mountain.”

Zoro had a pair of binoculars out. I held out my hand and he handed them to me. Getting a good look through them, the view was as incredible as it was bizarre.

“We’re veering off course! A little to the right!”

“Right? Okay!”

“Turn starboard!”

There was a sound, a sickening crack as the beam of wood split in half. We all stared at it in horror, disbelieving of what happened.

“Crap!” The word had let my mouth before I could censor myself. I didn’t like swearing in front of people if I could help it.

“The rudder….”

“WE’RE GOING TO CRASH!” 

Luffy went flying out towards the opposite of the ship, his hat flying off of his head. Zoro reached out to grab it before it was lost, almost cradling it.

**“GOMU GOMU NO FUSEN!”**

The force of Luffy’s defence was enough to push the Going Merry back onto the right course.  
“We’re saved!” The relief in Nami’s voice was palpable.

“Luffy, grab onto my hand”  “Captain, grab onto my hand!” 

Zoro and I had both shouted at the same time, reaching out our arms. Luffy reached in and grabbed one of our hands with his own and we pulled him in, causing him to slam into the deck without breaking it.

Sanji and Usopp were doing a strange dance, Usopp holding the broken half of the rudder in one hand. The two of them were doing some strange leaps and side clicks, making me collapse with laughter.

“WE DID IT! WE’RE SAFE!” 

The excitement in the air was contagious.

“Now all we have to do is make it down.” Zoro lightly punched my shoulder, seeming to accept me as a crew mate. At least for now; I knew that he would continue to keep on eye on me until he could safely believe that I posed no danger to his captain or the rest of the crew.

“Whoa! I can see the Grand Line!”

We all stood next to Luffy, leaning against the railing. I looked beside me, everyone was smiling, happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've also just noticed that, depending on what I like more, I switch between the English and the Japanese translations of attacks. I find that I prefer the Japanese titles more, so that's probably what I'll be using the most.


	4. absconditus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _absconditus - hidden, covert_  
>  The crew explores the insides of a whale, Luffy is insightful and the Outlier takes a dip in the ocean. (Just not the one you're probably thinking of.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This chapter didn't take me as long to write as what they normally do, which is funny because it's at least two to three thousand more words than what I normally write. Oh well, more for you guys to enjoy. Leave a comment if you've got a moment! I'd love to hear what you're thinking!

****Sabo woke three days later, the letter and pictures by his bed on the table. He was disorientated for a moment when everything suddenly came flooding back.

He remembered. Luffy. Ace. His brothers, his precious brothers. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten them, or the man that had (coerced) the mountain bandits to take them all in. By no means were they related by blood, but he’d prefer to say that Monkey D. Garp was his Gramps over any sort of relation to the nobles that had tried and failed to take his life and those of his brothers away.

“You're awake." 

Dragon’s voice came from the door. 

"It seems so." 

Sabo couldn’t help it but he laughed, an almost hysterical tone to it.

“I've got brothers and they’ve believed that I’ve been dead for the last ten years!"

"Brothers?"

"You didn’t read the letter?"

"Whilst I do read a lot of correspondence, this one is for you and you alone."

Sabo clutched at the letter and held it close to his chest, he wanted to finish reading it but not whilst Dragon was in the room. It felt to personal for that.

Sensing the mood, Dragon bid him farewell and left the room.

_‘I've included some pictures of your brothers. I don’t know if they’ll help in any way, but maybe they might trigger some sort of memory?’_

They were right about that, even if they were only going off of a hunch. 

_‘Regardless, I believe that it would be beneficial if you were to visit Alabasta sometime soon. It may offer you some answers to your past and help you reunite with your brothers. Regardless of the fact that to them you have been dead for ten years, it may be best to clear up some misunderstandings and bring both hope for the future._

_It would certainly bring myself a lot of hope._

_Also the aforementioned tragedy, I am unsure as to how to prevent the events leading up towards it. I have an idea as to how to prevent the tragedy itself from occurring, but if I say something or change something then even those plans could be thrown into disarray.’_

Sabo had more of an analytical mind than most, and could read between the lines. The Crow Queen probably needed another set of eyes and ears to help out with whatever plot they were going to come up with. And if he could help them then he would do whatever it took. 

 

* * *

 

 

“So this is the Grand Line, the greatest sea in the world!” 

Luffy was still sitting on his seat upon merry’s head, whilst Sanji and Usopp were hanging onto the mast. Nami was standing slightly behind Luffy to the left with Zoro to the right, an ever present presence. The right hand of the future Pirate King. I stood next to Zoro, not entirely sure where I would fit in this situation.

“Full speed ahead!” Came the captains order. 

“BUOOOOOOOOH!”

And there was Laboon, sounding very similar to Dory if I was to be honest. I might break out the quotes, but no-one would get my jokes or references.

“Did any of you hear that?” Zoro had walked up to be almost leaning over the railing.

“I heard something.”

“Who cares?”

“It might just be the wind, the terrain is different here.”

“BUOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

“Nami, I don’t think that was just the wind.”

“What was that?” Now it was Usopp’s turn to be confused.

“NAMI! THERE’S A MOUNTAIN UP AHEAD!” Sanji pointed out from his view point on the mast.

“That can’t be right!” Nami shook her head, “Once we pass the Twin Capes we should be out in the open sea.”

“BUOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

At that last noise, Luffy was finally taking notice; his forehead was creased in thought and a frown on his normally grinning face.

“Sanji, I don’t think that’s a mountain.” I shouted up at him.

“That’s definitely not a mountain!” He replied down at me.

“IT’S A WHALE!” 

“BUOOOOOOOOH!” Laboon seemed to agree with Usopp’s abrupt, but succient statement.

“What do we do? Should we fight it?”

“Captain, fighting is not always the answer.”

“Fighting is always the answer!” Luffy crossed his arms with a pout and I wondered if Sabo felt like this with Ace and Luffy when they were kids. Then again, he was probably just as bad but had more use of diplomacy than most.

“Besides, how the heck are we supposed to fight something that big?” Usopp was shaking that badly that I could see his knees shaking and clonking together.

“We’re too close to see anything clear, where are it’s eyes?” Sanji had found his way to be hanging onto the mast, rather than sitting on top of it.

“Perhaps the whale hasn’t noticed us yet?” Nami sounded hopeful, but i knew it to be in vain.

“Stop the discussing! If we don’t do anything soon, we’ll crash!” Zoro finally fed up with the whale discussion growled at the crew. “There’s space up left, turn portside!”

“The rudder’s broken!” Usopp snapped back at Zoro.

“We’ve got to do something!” Zoro leapt over the railing and joined Usopp at the broken rudder. Thinking after a moment, I joined him.

“I’VE GOT A PLAN!” Luffy shouted suddenly.

A feeling of dread washed over us.

“Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?” I muttered.

“It’s Luffy.” Came the dry response.

“Point.” Turning to Luffy and gripping the broken rudder at the same time, “What’s the plan captain?”

“LEFT! LEFT! LEFT!” 

Somehow the other three trying to pull the rudder with me had started to chant. 

“THE RUDDER WON’T BUDGE!” Usopp let out a wail of despair. 

The firing of the cannon was the next thing that we all heard, almost knocking us down in the process of Luffy actually firing it. Despite his reputation for being an absolute idiot, he actually had a very good (albeit _dangerous_ ) plan.

“I wonder if the ship has stopped now?” Luffy dusted his hands off, pressing his palms together.

“Nami watch out!” I couldn’t help but shout, as Merry’s head hit the rocks, snapping clean in two and heading directly for the navigator. She ducked just in time, the ram head missing her by centimetres. 

You could hear her start to hyperventilate, whispering to herself. “I almost died.”

The ram head continued to bounce forward, further onto the ship. Luffy was outraged, his expression would have been comical if the situation hadn’t been so dire. 

“Have you guys got this?” I wanted to go over and ask Nami if she was okay, but I didn’t want to let go of the rudder if my added strength could help.

“Go to Nami, we’ll be fine.” Usopp, unsurprisingly knew where I wanted to go and I thanked them, going to sit beside the almost rocking Nami.

“Stupid question,” I must have surprised her because she reacted almost violently. Her hand whipped around and I caught her wrist before it made target; that target being my face, “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’m so sorry!” She started to cry a little and I gave her a hug. “I’ll be fine in a bit; it just took me by surprise is all.”

“If you’re sure?” She gave me a nod, “Just give me a shout if you want to talk, okay?”

“BUOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

Laboon sounded confused, as if he were not sure if there were people around him. A pirate ship beneath him.

“Nows our chance!” Zoro shouted as he strained his arms trying to pull the rudder to the side.

“Did the whale not feel that cannonball?”

“Maybe it’s slow?”

“He already looks to be in pain!” I interjected, and it was true. Besides the scars that I knew were on the whale’s head, there were numerous scares covering the rest of his body. They, for the most part, looked deep and several years old; others looked only days old, a dark bloody red and some still weeping.

“BUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

This loud cry reverberated through the ship, causing us all to wince in pain and discomfort.

“Row as fast as you can! We have to get away from this thing!”

A presence from behind Nami and myself startled us, cold and almost oppressive. Turning as one, we found the captain standing behind us. A fury etched on his face, making sweat break out on the backs of our necks. He didn’t have the use of his Haoshoku Haki as of yet, but seeing him in the moment was like seeing a wild animal protecting it’s own.

“How. Dare. You. Destroy. My. Special. Seat!” Each word was punctuated individually as he sent his fist into the air with a sold crack, rubber breaking through the air and causing it to shudder.

“IDIOT!” The crew said in unison. I just shook my head, he’d just given us away. With the captain not paying any attention and him threatening the whale, Usopp and Zoro came from behind him, catapulting Luffy forward with a combined kick.

The Going Merry shuddered once more, as the whale opened his mouth. Water started to rush in, faster and faster as we found ourselves spinning towards the back of the whale’s throat. We continued to spin in circles, with the ship and subsequently all of us being flipped upside as we continued following the flow of water.

“I AIN’T GOING TO DIE HERE!”

 

* * *

 

We landed with a splash in the whale’s stomach. Picking ourselves up off of the deck, we all stared around us in amazement. There was a literal island sitting comfortably in the middle of a whales stomach, on an ocean in the middle of a whales stomach. The Going Merry was on an ocean in the middle of a damn whale’s _stomach_.

“What’s your explanation for this? Weren’t we just swallowed whole by a whale?” Sanji was just generalising, but somehow this line felt a little pointed. At Nami or myself I wasn’t too sure.

“It’s the Grand Line, this could probably be considered as normal.” I shrugged. 

“True, but this just has to be a dream.”

“Not necessarily, there’s a house on that island.”

“Could be an illusion?” The hopefulness in that voice was something that I couldn’t help but find hilarious, but outwardly didn’t show my amusement.

A giant squid rose up in front of us; I couldn’t help but face palm with my shoulders starting to shake with laughter. This day couldn’t get any more ridiculous than it already was, but I knew that wasn’t true. This was the world of One Piece, I was on the crew of Monkey D. Luffy and this was the (almost) Grand Line. Of course it could and would get increasingly more ridiculous.

“IT’S A GIANT SQUID!” Nami and Usopp fled, slamming themselves onto the deck behind Zoro, Sanji and myself. The other two were readying themselves for a fight, and I was trying to calm my laughter.

As it turns out, Zoro and Sanji had no need to defend us and the ship as three or four harpoons came out of nowhere, forcing the giant squid down and onto the surface of the ocean lined stomach. I walked over, in between Zoro and Sanji. 

“Seems like there’s someone else here.”

“Let’s hope that it’s a person.”

“Does it really matter? We may have to fight them.” I knew that this generally (shouldn’t) be the case, but I couldn’t help but rile them up a little. Sure enough Zoro’s grin turned a little bit feral and a glint in Sanji’s eyes appeared. I must admit myself that I would like to see how I could go in a fight, probably not as well as these seasoned warriors, but perhaps better than what I could accept of myself.

Whimpering behind us were Nami and Usopp, having both heard our commentary. 

“Where did Luffy go?”

“I want to go home…”

We watched as the squid began to move, being dragged towards the house by strong ropes in a steady, even rhythm.

“What if we just open fire?” Usopp shakily stood up and raised his arm, pointing towards the house and the bloody carcass being hauled towards it.

A figure moved in the distance, the flowery shape of their head was the most prominent feature.

“Someone’s coming out of the house!” How Sanji’s cigarette hadn’t gone out, or fallen out of his mouth from the rough and tumble of being swallowed whole by a whale I had no idea. (Or how he talked through it, either.) “That’s a flower!” 

He must have blurted out the first thing that came into his head because afterwards he went very still, wide eyed. He honestly looked a little scared; what the hell had those  done to him that Eiichiro Oda hadn’t shown in the manga? No one had that kind of reaction without some sort of background. He started to breath normally again after a few moments.

“What’s up with him?” Usopp muttered and then shouted, wide eyed, “The old man took out the squid!”

“Was he just fishing? Or did he purposely save us?” Sanji took a long drag of the cigarette. It must have helped to calm his nerves, as he looked better than he had earlier. 

The figure and Sanji caught each others eyes, resulting in a tense stare off as the older man continued to pull in his catch.

“SAY SOMETHING!” Sanji shouted, fed up with the tense moment. A momentary giggle passed through my lips, making the others turn and stare at me.

The old man calmly finished dragging the giant squid in, sat himself down on his deck chair, picked up a news paper and started to read. The giggles were threatening my calm, serene facade.

He continued to ignore our crew.

Usopp suddenly shouted, “IF YOU WANT A FIGHT, THEN Y-YOU’VE GOT ONE! WE’VE GOT CANNONS!”

Crocus called back. “Don’t, or someone might end up dead!”

Thinking that he was threatening the safety and lives of everyone on the crew, Sanji smirked. “Who would that be?” 

“Me.”

“YOU!” Sanji was outraged at the answer, as seemingly mocking it was in nature. I snorted. Unlikely that, whilst a doctor, Crocus was a former member of the Roger Pirates and sailed with the former Pirate King. He bloody well knew how to fight and could probably take us all on and not have any worries about it.

The snorting had resulted in me laughing, almost silently, my whole body shaking trying to keep it quiet.

“Don’t get so worked up. Old man, would you tell us who yo are and where we are exactly?”

It was odd that Zoro would be the voice of reason, but then again, as Luffy was currently AWOL he was the next one in charge being the unspoken First Mate.

“That grandpa thinks he can make a fool out of me?” I patted Sanji on the shoulder.

“There, there. You’ll be fine.” His mutinous expression softened a little and he nodded, taking a deep breath.

Crocus was silent for a long moment, “Common courtesy says to introduce yourself before questioning another, doesn’t it?”

Zoro sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, “Right. Sorry about that.”

Crocus continued on as though Zoro hadn’t spoken. “My name is Crocus, the keeper of the Lighthouse of Twin Capes. I’m seventy-one years old. A gemini. And an AB blood type.” 

At this I lost any and all composure I had. It sounded as though he was reciting his advertisement on a dating app, or newspaper looking for love.

“DOES ANYONE MIND IF I KILL HIM? EBONY STOP LAUGHING!” Zoro’s shark teeth only made me laugh harder. I must have lost my mind, completely and utterly at this point.

“I’m so sorry! It sounds like he’s advertising himself in the ‘looking for love' section of the newspaper!” I voiced this to Zoro, trying to calm myself down. Usopp and Sanji snorted and Nami giggled a little, while Zoro rolled his eyes and calmed down a bit.

“You lot are wondering where this place is? Well first you’ve trespassed in my private resort and started to mouth off. Does this place look like the stomach of a mouse?” Crocus snapped at us, breaking us out of the laughter that was still continuing.

“So, this isn't a dream at all?”

“What do we do?” Nami rang her hands out in front of her, worrying. “I don’t want to be digested?”

“There’s an exit right over there.” Crocus pointed towards a barred gate.

“Y-You can get out of here?”

“Why is there an exit inside of a whales stomach?”

More questions kept coming.

“Guys, it’s a painting.” I had to stop all the questions, they were giving me a headache with all the running around in circles.

“WHAT?!”

“I’m assuming there’s not a whole lot to do down here and Crocus was probably bored.”

“They're right. It’s just my way of having a good time.” Crocus stared at me. I had no idea that a suspicion, an idea was brewing in his head about me at the time; I probably wouldn’t have stopped it however, even if I could have persuaded the stubborn old man.

“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE ANYWAYS?” Usopp had finally had enough and lost it. Crocus had gone back to ignoring us and back to reading his newspaper.

Zoro grabbed Usopp by the shoulder and led him away. “Leave him, we’ve found an exit so let’s leave.”

The water underneath the ship started to move violently, making the Going Merry rock from side to side.

Crocus folded his newspaper and placed it down. “He’s started again, has he?”

The rocking of the water had revealed that the island was actually a ship, a fact that Nami had quickly pointed out. “It’s an iron ship, also!” She added on.

“Wait, so the ocean must be stomach acid! If we stay longer the Going Merry will be dissolved!” Usopp replied, a note of panic building with every word he spoke. “What’s going on! Please explain it to us!”

“This whale has started to bash his head against the Red Line again.”

“What?” Zoro and Sanji had never seemed so synchronised. The only difference between the too was the smoke circling upwards from the cigarette in Sanji’s mouth.

“I remember seeing the whale’s forward. It was covered in scars.” Nami turned to me. “Ebony, you were right. He must be in incredible pain, bellowing at the sky.”

“He’s definitely suffering.” I replied.

“BUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!” The echoes of his wails reverberated through his stomach, shaking us all even further.

“I’ve got it!” Nami placed her left fist on her outstretched right hand. “He must be trying to kill the whale from inside.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why? It’s the most logical solution.”

“Just call it a gut feeling.” I couldn’t very well say how I knew that wasn’t the case, now could I? 

“Regardless, let’s get out of here. If we hand around any longer than we already have, we’ll dissolve.”

“I haven’t got anything against whaling,” 

Interrupting I muttered “I do.” 

Sanji continued, having not heard me. “It’s not like we are obligated to save the whale, either. Let’s just go.”

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile with Luffy, he had followed the chamber downwards. Continuing to bounce around.

“What’s going on?” 

He had no idea where he was, no idea where his crew was. He’d only just gotten his Chronicler and he didn’t know anything about her; he wanted to be back with his crew, to have _everyone_ share in the adventure. Besides, the best way to see how a person was, what they were like and their morals and beliefs were how they would react to a dangerous and deadly situation. That was something he had learnt from Sabo.

There was a painful tug in his chest when he thought about his deceased brother. He wondered if Sabo would be proud of him and Ace, if he would despise them for gaining the freedom in life that he had been denied but gained in death? He hoped that he wouldn’t; Sabo was always the nicer brother anyway. 

“Alright, we’ve managed to infiltrate this far inside successfully. Listen up, Miss Wednesday.” Luffy heard voices echoing from further down. “Beyond this door is the whales stomach. The old man is most likely inside was well.”

 _Old man?_ Luffy thought. _That’s where everyone else has to be!_

“Our mission is to eliminate the old geezer!”

N _ot if I can help it!_ Luffy may have dreamed of being a pirate since he was a kid, but some of his Grandpa’s beliefs of protecting the innocent had rubbed off on him and his siblings during their many ‘training’ sessions.

“We’re doing this all for the whale!” That was a mans voice!

“Yes, Mister Nine. This whale is our town’s sweet honey, after all.” The voice that answered the male voice was female, soft. He could detect a note of eloquence that he knew Sabo had as well. It screamed of a noble upbringing. (Come to think of it, his newest crew member had notes of this every now and then, especially on certain words. It spoke of a definite formal education, something that a lot of people didn’t get or couldn’t afford.)

“Argh! My head is spinning!” Luffy spotted the dead end and before he could anything about it he went crashing nose first, his chin hitting second. Landing on his back, his hat floated downwards. He could have sworn that it was silently laughing at him; there was always something about his hat. He wanted to make _it_ proud, not only the man who had given it to him.

“What is it this time?” He groaned aloud. “Is this an ocean? A river? Looks definitely like a waterway.” 

He felt himself slipping downwards, sliding downwards. He managed to get himself upright, a gate coming into view, as well as the two he heard earlier. He didn’t have much time to take notice of them, only seeing a shock of pastel blue hair and a crown on the mans head.

“Miss Wednesday, on the count of three, two, one. Baby! i’m opening this door!” The man, Mister Nine, shook his fist at the woman, Miss Wednesday. “So don’t lose your focus!”

“Roger that, Mister Nine!” She readied herself. “Ready when you are!”

“I CAN’T STOP! I CAN’T STOP! PLEASE! STOP ME!” Luffy has found out rather quickly, as everything was tilting, his running was gaining speed and he couldn’t stop himself from going even faster.

“Who is that Mister Nine?”

“No idea, Miss Wednesday.”

Luffy was yelling, screaming as he gained more speed and less traction. Faster and faster he went. As the two others noticed he wasn’t stopping, they, too, started to scream in terror.

 

* * *

 

We readied the ship to continue going along, but with Laboon continuing to bash his head against the Red Line it was getting increasingly harder and harder.

“If this keeps up, it’s going to be difficult to even reach the exit.” 

“If we don’t hurry, our lives and Luffy’s will be in danger. He isn’t inside with us! I saw him escape the whale’s mouth!” Sanji countered Zoro’s statement, both were true however.

“Knowing Luffy he probably tired as hard as he could to follow behind us though.”

The others nodded in agreement at my apt descriptor of our captain, loyal to a fault and never caring about the risk to his own life.

There was a shout from behind us, as we watched Crocus dive into the ocean, swimming towards the exit.

“That old man jumped straight in!”

“What’s he trying to do?”

“He’s going to get himself killed!”

“I don’t think he will. He seems pretty strong to me, definitely stronger than what he lets on.” I added. Zoro nodded, that was something that he had noticed as well.

“He’s swimming towards the exit.” Usopp crossed his arms, “We should hurry and get to the exit before the whale gets any harsher on itself.”

The boat lurched dangerously.

“EVERYONE GET AN OAR! WE’VE GOT TO ROW!” Zoro’s order was interrupted by three screams and a door being slammed open.

“OH NO! MISS WEDNESDAY, IT’S AN OCEAN OF STOMACH ACID!”

“NOOOOOOO!

The last was someone very familiar. The captain was finally here.

“GUYS! YOU’RE OKAY!”

“LUffy?” “Captain?”

“Well in any case, help me out!” The three flying humans went crashing into the sea of stomach acid below.

“Who are those other two weirdos?” Usopp didn’t look to concerned about them at all. I couldn’t help be worried, Vivi would be nakama one day. Not yet, but soon.

Crocus had made it the the ladder.

“The old man is running away!”

“No time to worry about him, Luffy comes first.” Zoro scolded Usopp.

“I’ll get him.” Shrugging off my hooded jacket and diving into the acid ocean below. It tingled, but I was quick in fishing Luffy out enough the he could slingshot the two of us back aboard the Going Merry where Nami handed the two of a us a towel each.

“Shishishishi! Thanks Ebony!”

“Mah mah, it’s not problem Captain.” I waved off his concern as I wrung out my shirt. All I could say is thank the gods above for the lycra-like material that these pants were made of. Perfect for swimming in and not having to worry about them getting wet; they looked like a pair of skinny jeans also. Gold stars all around. Laboon had stilled after I had dived in to get the captain; it was calmer.

“Who are you exactly?”

The two non-Straw Hat’s seemed to have a silent conversation, not saying a word as we surrounded them from all sides. This was done unconsciously I’d noticed; we protected our own that was for sure.

“I won’t let you lay a single finger on Laboon for as long as I live!” Crocus shouted, capturing the attention of everyone on board.

“Whho is the old man?” Luffy questioned tilting his head.

“His name is Crocus.” I answered and he nodded.

Usopp looked at Crocus and groaned. “He’s back.”

An evil aura surrounded the two intruders.

“FUFUFUFUFU!” Miss Wednesday, she wasn’t Vivi Nefertari at this moment, cackled. “We’re inside the whale’s stomach now! IT’LL BE EASY TO BLAST A HOLE IN IT’S STOMACH!”

The two fired their weaponry, which had somehow been concealed somewhere. (They weren’t wearing a whole lot, so it must be one of those anime and manga things. Or a extension charm of a sort.) Crocus leapt in front of the blast, taking the full force of it.

“You were right Ebony, he has been protecting the whale.” Nami conceded to me.

“CEASE YOUR FUTILE RESISTANCE!”

“JUST TRY AND PROTECT THE WHALE IF YOU STILL CAN! IT’S NOT GOING TO STOP OUR TOWN FROM EATING THIS WHALE!”

The two at that moment reminded me of Team Rocket, only more interested in murder than kidnapping.

Crocus glared at the two, heated.

“He’s tougher than he looks!”

“What’s going on?”

Luffy cocked his head, thinking for a moment before he was suddenly in action. He knocked Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine out with a single blow to the back of the head.

“I’m not too sure what’s actually going on, but I’ll leave these guys knocked out for now!”

“Usopp, got any rope?” I asked and he nodded, going to fetch it. I helped him tie them up, adding a few knots that I knew (from personal experience) were nigh unbreakable. And these two didn’t have knives on them, either.

 

* * *

 

 

We boarded the island that was Crocus’ ship, half carrying half dragging (Sanji’s doing) the two (now) prisoners. He had wanted to explain to us why he was so intent on keeping the whale alive, of course I knew but it was important information, vital. We may not get Brook, otherwise and that would be a tragedy, for both us and for him. Fifty years alone; I was alone for almost two and it had almost driven me mad. I don’t know how he could survive it.

“This whale is an island whale,” Crocus began as we all made ourselves comfortable. “Normally found in the West Blue. It’s one of, no, it is the largest species of whale in the world. His name is Laboon.”

“These two rogues are from a town nearby, with the goal of hunting Laboon. Laboon could feed their town for two or three years. Give or take.” He shook his head. “I cannot allow that!”

“The reason behind him bashing his head against the Red Line and bellowing at the sky, facing Reverse Mountain. Well, I was minding my business as the keeper of the lighthouse when a particular group of friendly pirates came down the Reverse Mountain.”

At this Luffy began to pay rapt attention to Crocus and his storytelling.

“Laboon had followed behind their ship; he was a baby at the time.” He was clearly lost in his memories, but continued to tell us the story. “Laboon had accompanied their adventures in the West Blue, but the pirates feared the Grand Line too dangerous for him. Normally island whales swim in pods together, Laboon had found his pod. Those pirates were his pod.”

“Their ship was damaged when they arrived here and they stayed for a few months to fix the ship.” Crocus smiled, “I became rather good friends with them during that time. On the last day they stayed here they asked me to ‘please take care of Laboon for two to three years?’”

“They said that once they sailed around the world that they would be back and Laboon understood this and waited patiently for them.” He started to frown, “That’s why he keeps bellowing and hitting himself against the Red Line. It has been fifty years since then. He still thinks that they will come back…”

I wanted to shout that Brook was alive! Well, a skeleton, but alive! That he hadn’t abandoned Laboon, that the Rumbar Pirates would never have left him behind if they had had a choice. Was there a way that i could put it, word it so that it wouldn’t be too much of a spoiler. I didn’t wish to give too much false hope, in case I changed something too much (something that I was steadfastly trying to avoid; the only thing that I wanted to change, _would_ change, would be what happened to Ace.)

I made a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading this and supporting me by leaving kudos and subscribing and bookmarking! It's so appreciated! The next chapter, depending on how many shifts I have at work and how much university work I need to get done before I go back to classes, may be two to three weeks away.


	5. speravi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[speravi - hope, to look forward to]_  
>  In which Ace keeps on eye on a potential traitor, enlists the help of the Phoenix and the Outlier gives hope to Crocus and Laboon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LIKE HOLY HECK! Did you guys see what Oda-sensei's done for the 20th Anniversary??? I'M DYING OVER HERE! MAKE IT REAL PLEASE! Please excuse my excitement, but now I'm even sadder that it didn't actually happen and that Sabo wouldn't have been there because he didn't remember the two at the time. AHHHH! Now I'm sad again! Onto more serious matters; I'm trying to keep my chapters between three thousand and six thousand words; I'm not actually used to writing this many words for a singular chapter, so it's a nice challenge to set for myself.

My particular decision was to tell Crocus and Laboon of the rumours of a hauntingly familiar singer in a part of the Grand Line. These rumours had been going on nigh for fifty years, and they continued on to this day. The wording of this was going to be the problem, however. 

“This is some waterway!” The awe in Luffy’s voice was intense, as he stared around him in wonder. I had to remember that out of all the current crew members, Luffy, Usopp and myself hadn’t traveled (far) from where we lived for the most part. (I’m not actually sure if I count, but I hadn’t left Loguetown since I was rescued by the marines except for the occasional rescue mission.)

“It’s pretty amazing that you have managed to make a tunnel this big and live inside here.” Nami looked at Crocus with hooded lids, “Is this another ‘having a good time’ thing?”

Crocus waved his hand, “It’s a bit of a hobby of mine as a doctor. Although, before you lot get any ideas about the fact that I don’t look much like a real doctor; I did used to run a clinic. And I used to work as a ship doctor for a few years.”

 _A ships doctor._ I thought. _I suppose that would be one way to describe it._

Luffy lit up. “A doctor! Join my crew!”

The others faulted at this, but I knew that Luffy was only slightly kidding. 

“I think he’s got another job at the moment, Captain.”

Luffy pouted at me, outrageously so for a seventeen year old Pirate Captain made of rubber.

“That’s one thing, I’m also too old to be doing reckless things. So stop talking nonsense.” Crocus agreed with me, though he sounded a little wistful as he said it. I think that I was the only one who actually noticed it, either that or I was looking for it. Looking for something that would tie this man living in the stomach of a friend to the man who was a member of the Roger Pirates and doctor to the King.

“A doctor, huh? Why are you living inside the whale?” Nami leant on the railing of the Merry as Crocus started to open the gate.

“A whale the size of this one, it’d be impossible to treat him from the outside.” Turning the gears again, he turned to us. “I’ll open the gate for you now.”

As the gate opened, we found ourselves out on the open sea once more.

“ALRIGHT!” Luffy stood where the head of Merry was before it was broken, “I CAN SEE THE REAL SKY AGAIN!”

The gate slammed shut and we had two prisoners, tied up, to deal with. We turned to Crocus, he and Laboon were the ones wronged in this situation.

“What should we do with these two?”

“Throw them overboard?”

Lifting the two unconscious rogues over the side of the ship, Zoro and Sanji let them fly. The awoke  from their forced slumber upon impact with the water.

“WHERE ARE WE?”

“OH NO! IS THIS STOMACH ACID?”

“No Miss Wednesday, this seems to be the actual ocean.”

“Mister Nine, we must have been knocked out by those pirates.”

Luffy casually leaned over the railing of the Going Merry, “So, who are you again?”

“Does it really matter, captain?” I stood next to him, my back turned to Mister Nine and Miss Wednesday.

“Guess not! Shishishishishi!”

“SHUT IT! WHO WE ARE ISN’T ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS!” They mustn’t have heard our conversation, as they continued on like we hadn’t spoken a word.

“Wait, Miss Wednesday. It may be their business, they’re pirates after all.”

“That is very true indeed, Mister Nine.” Shoving a finger in our direction, Vivi continued. “Prepare yourselves! Our organisation may have some use for you!”

Before they started to swim off they shouted, “GOOD DAY YOU HILLBILLY PIRATES! AND HEED OUR WARNING CROCUS, THAT WHALE WILL BE OURS!”

Sanji came up beside me and stared dreamily after the retreating duo. “Ah, Miss Wednesday was her name? Such a beautiful enigma.”

“You can’t help yourself, can you Sanji?” I chuckled as he gave me a look, which was softer than one of the ones that he would have given Zoro, Luffy or Usopp.

“Are you sure about letting them go?” Nami asked Crocus, as Luffy had bent down to pick up the Log Pose that had been dropped on the deck floor.

“If I didn’t let them go, there would be others to take their place.” Crocus explained gently, staring off into the distance.

 

* * *

 

Currently Portgas D. Ace was looking on in fascination as the Fourth Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and one of his closest friends, Thatch, held up the devil fruit that he had found. He was happy for his brother, but a strong sense of foreboding had latched on to him and wouldn’t let go. He knew the reasoning behind this.

Along the first half of his journey into the Grand Line, he’d met a person that he would call a friend that had mentioned a devil fruit that would be wanted by a vicious, callous and murderous man who hid in plain sight amongst the crew that he would eventually betray. He didn’t ask at the time how she knew this, as there were stranger things in the world than someone being able to see the future. What caused him to worry was how directed, pointed this comment was. He knew that at some point he would come across both the devil fruit in question and the man. 

He watched, warily as Thatch proudly showed Oyaji the fruit. He felt eyes on both Thatch and the fruit coming from behind him, turning he looked to see who it was.

Marshall D. Teach.

The man was a part of his own division and whilst he trusted his brothers explicitly (not to the extent that he himself trusted Luffy and Sabo however), there was something _off_ about the man. He could hide himself well enough, but he knew this to be the man that had _scarred_ Red Haired Shanks and made him wary enough in a way that he wasn’t even wary about around Whitebeard. 

He was suspicious enough with the way he made his way towards Thatch to give his own congratulations, looking at the devil fruit with undisguised want, he visibly _lusted_ for it. 

He knew that if this man could harm and injure one of the four Yonko then Ace, whilst stronger than most and getting stronger everyday, wouldn’t be able to land a hit on the man if it came to blows. (Which led Ace to wonder why the man wasn’t Second Division commander over him; it didn’t make sense, surely the stronger you were the higher ranked you should be?) He would need the help of someone else to keep an eye on Teach and Thatch.

He’d need Marco’s help, and probably soon if the look on Marshall D. Teach’s face was any indication.

 

* * *

 

“To think that the poor whale has been waiting here for fifty years, does he still think his friends will return?”

Luffy made himself comfortable, laying down against a rock and kicking his feet up. “They’re taking a long time, those pirates.”

Sanji took a look at his captain, a little annoyed at his naivety. “Idiot, this is the Grand Line. If they said that they would be back in two to three years and they’re still not back then logically the answer is that they are dead. They aren’t going to come back regardless of how long the whale waits!”

“Why do have to put it so coldly? They might come back!” Usopp got right up into Sanji’s face. “Can’t you appreciated such a moving story about a whale that believes in the promise his friends made to him?”

Crocus looked up to the sky. “The truth is crueler, however. I heard from a reliable source that the pirates left the Grand Line already.”

Nami looked shocked. “They just left him behind? But that would have meant that they left through a calm belt!”

“Yes, but I’m not sure if they survived or not. They wouldn’t dare to return here anyway; the seasons, climate, wind and ocean currents are chaotic. Common sense fails. The Grand Line rules over those faint of heart.”

Sanji put out his cigarette on a rock, “So they were cowards, more concerned with saving their own hides rather than keeping a promise to a friend. They left the Grand Line never to return.”

Usopp wouldn’t take this lying down. “They just abandoned the whale? Even though the whale never doubted them? The whale still trusts them? How could they be so cruel?”

“Why haven’t you told the whale?” I interjected, sensing that Usopp was going to continue to rant.

“I have told him, but he refuses to believe the truth.”

“He won’t listen?” Nami asked.

“He has been bellowing at Reverse Mountain and hitting his head up against the Red Line ever since.” Crocus looked down in sadness. “He is stubbornly trying to assert that his friends are beyond the wall and that they’ll return. I’ve tried telling him the truth multiple times since then, but Laboon refuses to accept the truth.”

“He’s still waiting, even after the betrayal and even after there being no point in waiting!” Usopp sighed, almost romantic in a way. He did love a good story, maybe I could regale him with some from home when we got the chance?

“That’s exactly why. He doesn’t want to lose all reason, of losing the meaning behind him waiting for so long. That’s why he refuses to listen to what anyone tells him about those pirates.” Stretching out, he continued on. “He’s from the West Blue, on the other side of the Red Line. It’s far too late for him to go back, that’s why his only hope is with those friends that brought him here originally.”

I could see the captain sneaking off to the ship. Without thinking too much on it I grabbed onto his arm. 

“Maybe something smaller, captain? We still need the mast.” I knew that it would be impossible to talk Luffy out of fighting with Laboon, but I could try to lessen the damage that the Going Merry would take. A battle that I was losing very quickly. 

“I’ll use the top half of it then!” And he ran off. 

Sighing, I shook my head. Why did this feel more like babysitting than anything else?

"As much as I feel bad for the whale, if you think about it you’ve also been betrayed by them. Why don’t you just leave the whale already?” Sanji asked.

Crocus motioned towards Laboon. “Look at his head. The longer he keeps bashing his head against the Red Line, the quicker he’s going to die. Whilst our relationship is odd, we’ve been companions for the last fifty years. I can’t just look him die.”

“YOOOOOOOOOOO!” Was followed by a crack, then a crash as the top half of the main mast was broken clean in two and the captain sprinted up the side of Laboon’s head.

“What is he up to now?”

“You take your eyes off of him for not even a second.” Zoro turned to look at me.

“Don’t look at me, I might not have known he long but even I can tell that trying to get him to do something that isn’t ridiculously stupid or dangerous isn’t going to happen. I just got him to try to do _less_ damage than what he might have.”

Zoro held my eyes for a little longer and nodded, knowing better than most that whatever Luffy wanted, Luffy got.

“ **GOMU GOMU NO IKEBANA!”**

“Is that a mast? Our mast?”

“Yes, but it’s only the top half of it.”

“Really?”

“He was going to yank the entire thing out and I suggested to use something smaller. I’m surprised he didn’t take the mizenmast, however.”

“Probably didn’t cross his mind.”

“BUOOOOOH!” Laboon bellowed out in pain, as Luffy had stuck the top half of the mast right into an open wound.

The mast being broken in half and having been shoved into Laboon’s head had just sunk in.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM?” Nami had grabbed me by my jacket and started to shake me back and forth, causing me to get dizzy.

“WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?” “HE DESTROYED OUR SHIP!” Were the only things that I could hear through the blood rushing through my head.

Luffy was screaming, a little in horror and a little in excitement. Swinging back and forth as Laboon shook his massive head, trying to get rid of both Luffy and the intrusion. He slammed his head forwards, causing the half mast to be driven a little further into his head.

Luffy still hadn’t let go.

Crocus couldn’t believe what he was seeing, “HEY KID! IT’S FAR TOO DANGEROUS!”

Nami, having stopped shaking me reached out and grabbed Crocus’ arm, “Don’t worry about our captain, he’ll be fine.”

“BUOOOOOOOOOH!” 

“YOU BIG DUMMY!”

“BUOOOOOOOOOOOH!” 

“TAKE THIS!” Luffy let his fist fly into Laboon’s eye. Laboon retaliated by pushing Luffy backwards into the lighthouse.

“What on earth is he trying to do?” Usopp questioned.

“Maybe he’s trying to give him something else to look forward to?” I was still dizzy and had to sit down, being helped by Sanji.

“IT’S A TIE!” Luffy had a very self satisfied smirk on his face as he looked at the surprised Laboon. “I’m pretty tough, aren’t I? Our fight isn’t settled, so we’ll do this again one day!”

Luffy stood up, “Your friends may be dead, I don’t know, but I’m your new rival! Once my crew and I sail around the Grand Line, we’ll come back and settle the score!”

Laboon had tears in his eyes, welling up. “BUOOOOOOOOH!” The next bellow was one of agreement, happier than before.

Crocus looked like he would cry himself, with the rest of us smiling at our captains decision.

 

* * *

 

Marco looked at the concerned and suspicious Second Division commander as he brought his worries to him. Ace didn't often ask for anything, help or otherwise; he was pretty self sufficient and could handle most things thrown his way.

“There’s something off about the way Teach is looking at both the devil fruit and Thatch. I know he's in my division, but I’m pretty sure that he is actually stronger than me. Stronger than what anyone else on this crew thinks he is.”

“So what you are saying is that you’d like me to just keep an eye on him whilst you can’t, yoi.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. He’s always given me a bad feeling, and it doesn’t help that the man that my brother looks up to is so wary of him, either.”

“Shanks is awfully wary of him.” Marco hadn’t noticed that until Ace had pointed it out. Whilst the other Yonko was a pain, childish at the best of times, whenever the two crews got together for a sparring match or two he would always go out of his way to avoid the bearded man. Not even his captain got that reaction from the red-haired man. 

Ace looked at the older man, worried as to what he might say. 

“I’ll do it. Hopefully the feeling is nothing and your friend was wrong about her feeling, but we can’t be too careful, yoi.”

Ace beamed in relief, “Thank you Marco. She said that she hoped she was wrong, too. I hope she’s wrong, even though she rarely ever is.” The last part was muttered, but Marco heard anyway.

Despite the situation causing Ace to ask him for help, he smirked. It looked like the other flame head had a crush.

“So about this _friend_ of yours.” 

The usually unflappable pirate blushed. It wasn’t obvious, but you could see the tips of his ears burn a bright red. (Marco could have sworn that his ears were actually on fire with how red that they had become.) 

“She's just a friend! Geez Marco! Besides if what she said is true, she's probably on a pirate ship somewhere by now.”

Marco was intrigued, “She wasn’t a pirate when you met her?”

“No she was a bartender, and an occasional information broker. That and she helped rescue people from the marines incompetency.” 

Marco gave him a questioning look at the last bit. 

Ace extrapolated. “She would go out and rescue sailors who’d become caught up in the Calm Belt near Loguetown.”

“She sounds like quite the woman!”

Ace was back to blushing, making Marco grin.

_A little bit of blackmail between brothers didn’t hurt anyone._

* * *

 

I couldn’t help but laugh at the monstrosity that Luffy had painted onto the top of Laboon’s scarred head. Yes it was recognisable as the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates, but it was misshapen and the artist in me could only think that Pablo Picasso would have been proud.

“Done! This is a sign of our promise!” Luffy looked proud of himself. “So don’t you bash your head against the Red Line or it'll disappear!”

“BUOOH!” Laboon made a sound of agreement, as Crocus looked on. He looked proud of the situation, happier than he was before.

“Shishishishishi! Good!”

“Captain, Crocus, Luffy, can I have a word?” Everyone else had gone to do their jobs, or in Zoro’s case gone to take a nap.

“Sure thing, Ebony!” Crocus nodded his ascent and we made our way closer to Laboon he was looking at me with massive, curious eyes.

“What I am about to say might not be too believable, considering everything we have just gone through. However there have been rumours going around about a triangle near the entrance to the New World.” The three of them looked at me and I took a deep breath before I could continue. “There’s a haunted area where ships get stuck for months, even years on end. There’s apparently a ghost ship there, one that sings.”

“A signing ghost ship?” Luffy looked excited at the prospect.

“I worded that badly, the ship doesn’t sing but whoever is on that ship does. According to the rumours they hear _Binks no Sake_ quite a lot.”

This caused both Laboon and Crocus to sit up a little straighter.

“ _Binks no Sake_? That was a favourite of the Rumbar pirates!”

“I don’t know how true these rumours are,” I winced internally, they were as true as Brook being a skeleton but I wasn't about to tell them that. “But I’ve heard that anything can and will happen in the Grand Line. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but perhaps there may be a chance of some sort of final resolution?”

Crocus looked at me for a long moment, whilst Luffy had his head tilted.

“A final resolution would be nice.” Crocus inclined his head and Laboon nodded in turn.

“I’ve come to a decision!” After a moment, Luffy grabbed hold of my hand and started to swing our arms together, making me let out a laugh. He smiled triumphantly. “We’ll see if this rumour is true and tell you when we come back!”

“Sounds good captain, but I’ve got a slightly better idea if you’ll listen.” He paused and nodded. 

Turning to Crocus I asked, “Do you have a Den Den Mushi?”

“Yes I do.”

“How about we exchange numbers and when we find out more information we’ll let you know?”

He agreed and we exchanged numbers, Luffy looking on fondly before running off to clean the paint brushes he had used earlier.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The noise coming from Nami had us all looking over to her in surprise and shock.

“What's the matter, dearest Nami?" Sanji had his arms full of plates with delicious looking food covering them. It made my mouth water, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast this morning in Loguetown. “If it’s about your food, then the meals are all ready!”

“Nothing like that, Sanji! It's just the compass is broken! It’s just spinning in all directions!”

“Nami it’s not broken, normal compasses just don’t work here. Something about magnetic fields across the Grand Line?” I couldn’t remember the exact reasoning, but thought I’d point it out anyway.

“They’re right, you know. This is mostly due to the islands around here being rich with various minerals. And the currents and winds being unpredictable.” He turned to Nami. “As the navigator you should understand how terrifying that sort of unpredictability can be. If you venture too far out into the Grand Line without knowing this, you will definitely die.”

“Without a reliable way to tell directions then we’re screwed.” Nami conceded, “I honestly had no idea.”

“Nami’s so cute when she doesn’t know!” Sanji sighed dreamily as Usopp panicked and Luffy complimented the fish that Sanji had brought out. 

I had to say that I hadn’t eaten anything like this before, and it was very nice. “Sanji, this is really good!”

Heart eyes doubled from my compliment. “Thank you Ebony, dear!”

Crocus brought everyone’s attention back to him. “To navigate through the Grand Line, you will have need of a Log Pose.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“I’m surprised; they’re a type of compass that records the magnetic fields. They’re odd looking, as well.”

Luffy held up what he had picked up off the deck earlier. “You mean like this?”

Crocus nodded and pointed to it. “That’s a log Pose. Without it you would find it impossible to navigate the Grand Line.”

“WHY THE HECK DO YOU HAVE ONE?” Nami went to hit Luffy, but I grabbed her wrist.

“No need to hit the Captain. He’s not the only one who has one.” I didn’t mention that I’d grabbed three or four, whenever they went on sale in the market place I would grab a few bits and pieces that I knew I’d probably need for a journey out on the open seas.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you had one.” I replied.

She turned to Luffy who answered her earlier query. “Those two from before left it behind on our ship.”

He handed it to her, gently placing it in her hand.

“It has no markings on it or anything.” Nami was staring at the log pose with a hard fascination.

“The islands across the Grand Line each of their own magnetic field, so you’ll have to record the field interaction between two islands before moving onwards.” Crocus rubbed between his glasses across the bridge of his nose. “You can’t use any normal means of pathfinding, the log pose is the only reliable way. There’s seven magnetic fields out of this mountain which will take you to various  different islands. However, they all converge into one eventually.”

He grew more serious than he had been before. “The name of the last island that one can reach in the Grand Line is Raftel. It’s legendary and only one crew have ever been confirmed to have reached it. The Pirate King and his crew.”

“Wait? Does that mean One piece is on that island?”  The crew perked up at Usopp’s question.

“Who knows.” 

 _You would probably know, considering you were on his crew._ I thought to myself.

“That’s the likeliest theory, but no one has ever reached Raftel to confirm it or not.”

“Shishishishi!” Luffy finished eating his fish, picking the bone clean. “We can check it out for ourselves when we get there!”

We sat in silence for a moment.

“Should we go now? I’m finished eating everything.”

Sanji turned to Luffy, eyes almost popping out of his skull. “Did you just eat everything by yourself?”

“Even the bones are gone!” Usopp moved the fork around his empty plate with a solemn look on his face.

Nami, on the other hand wound the log pose securely around her wrist. “I’ll make sure to keep good care of it.”

“I've got a spare, just in case though Nami.” I pointed over my shoulder at the fight that was brewing. “Who knows what could happen with these guys?”

“True.”

Just as she had said those words, Sanji had kicked Luffy clean across the table, causing Luffy to go flying through the newly secured log pose on Nami’s wrist; glass flying everywhere as Nami and I looked in horror.

“YOU TWO CAN GO AND COOL YOUR TEMPERS DOWN!” Nami dropkicked the two offenders into the ocean.

“Thanks Nami, now I’ve got to go and rescue the captain.” Stripping out of my coat for the second time today. She looked at me apologetically. “Oi! Laboon, can I borrow your head for a moment?”

Laboon looked at me for a moment and nodded his consent. He lowered his head down so that I could climb on top and rose. When he was at a height I dived off and into the ocean.

_Silly rubber captain. Silly cook. What was Nami thinking?_

* * *

 

Ace’s fears were realised, as he found Thatch bleeding out on the deck floor. He knelt down, his hands and knees being covered in his brothers blood. Quickly checking to see if he had a pulse, he noted with relief that whilst faint, it was there. 

“MARCO! GET THE DOCTOR!”

Marco was just walking around the corner when he saw Ace kneeling over the bloodied body of their brother and rushed to get a doctor.

Ace didn’t notice anything since the doctor had came and rushed Thatch into surgery until Marco put a hand on his shoulder. Instinctively his fire whipped out to defend him, until he heard Marco’s voice.

“I’m sorry. I’m _sorry_.”

“Yoi, it’s fine. Just be glad it was me and not anyone else.”

“Where’s Teach?” The last word was said with venom. 

“Gone.” Marco’s reply was flat, his tone even with a cool fury.

“And the devil fruit?” 

“Also gone.”

The flames of fury, of rage were back again. Marshall D. Teach would _pay_.

“We’ll go talk to Oyaji, I know you’ll want to go after him.”

“Damn right I’m going after him!”

 

* * *

 

After rescuing the captain and the cook from the ocean and Nami’s fury. Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine were currently prostrating in front of the captain, begging for a ride to Whisky Peak.

“You can come along if you want.” Luffy stared them down, clearly saying without words that if the did anything then he would do worse than just knocking them out and throwing them in the ocean.

“You log pose should have been recorded by now.” Crocus must have given Nami his spare after I’d gone after Sanji and Luffy.  “Is it pointing to the place indicated on the map?”

“Yes it is! Straight to Whisky Peak.”

Crocus turned to Luffy, “Are you sure about going to Whisky Peak of all places because of these rogues? This is the only spot you can pick the route you want to go.”

“It’s okay, I mean if I don’t like it we can just sail around again and pick again.”

“I… see.”

“Well see you then, Flower Gramps!”

“Thanks for the log pose!”

“BUOOOOH!”

“GOOD BYE LABOON!”

“We’ll let you know if we hear anything or see anything, okay!” I shouted down at Crocus, who nodded towards us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Thatch survive? Find out! (Ace is as hot headed as ever, so he probably won't find out until the readers of this fic find out!) I also got my results back from university! I PASSED ALL MY SUBJECTS AND AM NOW MOVING ONTO THE NEXT SEMESTER! Like I am beyond happy, as we get to start on the projects that we will be taking into our third year and we get to pick what sort of things we would like to major in and the themes that drive us. I have been waiting to do this since before I got accepted into university back in 2015.


	6. eruditio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[eruditio - instruction, education]_  
>  Ace sets sail, the Straw Hat's learn something (multiple somethings) about their Captain and the Outlier tests their mettle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this story has gotten a lot more people looking at it and liking it than what I thought it would, but I'm really happy that people seem to really like it! I'm going to try and update every three weeks after this on a Monday. I can't guarantee this, but I'm going to try and stick to that as a schedule. I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

****After we had left Reverse Mountain, Crocus and Laboon behind I sat down in the kitchen with the log book, a pen and a cup of hot chocolate (provided by Sanji, of course). I wanted to start recording the adventures from Loguetown and Reverse Mountain, as Nami had already filled in previous adventures (including her own tragic past in the form of the arse kicking that Luffy gave got Arlong).

She’d left a bunch of little notes in the margins between filling out the adventures, ‘ _Who thinks it would be a great idea to eat the Gomu Gomu no mi as a devil fruit?_ ’ ‘ _Zoro sleeps more than he does anything else._ ’ Were alongside a comment reading, ‘ _How does he train while he sleeps? WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE?_ ’ and the compliment of ‘ _This food is a gift from the gods!_ ’ There were a whole bunch of these that made me laugh, before I started to fill the log out.

I must have been in there a while, as the others started to come in for dinner that night.

“Have you been in here all afternoon?” Usopp asked, taking a seat next to me.

“What’s the time?” I asked, dry grin on my face and he laughed, confirming that I had been there for a while. 

“What have you been doing?” 

“Just filling out the log book, captain. Did you want to take a look?” I offered the book to Luffy, who took it into his hands gently. He flipped open the book but stopped and looked up. He looked shy all of a sudden, something that you definitely didn't see on the Captain's face very often, if at all.

“I, uh, can’t actually read.” This stopped everyone short. 

I had an inkling that the environment that he grew up in didn’t really allow for any sort of formal education. Garp honestly probably thought that there would be no need to teach Luffy how to read (or probably write) because with the Marines they teach you. He did grow up with mountain bandits, too so education probably wasn't a top priority with them. Only the need to survive.

“I can teach you, if you want me to?” I offered, not knowing if Luffy would take me up on my offer. Everyone should have the choice of learning to read and write, it shouldn’t be a privilege. 

“I would love that!” Luffy beamed. “Sabo tried to teach Ace and I, but he didn’t have the patience! Ace knows how, a little. I don’t know how to write, either.”

He sounded so incredibly sad when he mentioned Sabo, but too caught up in the moment of finding out that the captain had brothers, the crew didn't take notice.

“I can teach you how to do that, too. Although, according to most the way I hold pens is strange and something not to be copied.” 

Luffy nodded.

“Who are Ace and Sabo?” Zoro couldn’t help but ask. Luffy stared at his first mate for a moment before answering, everyone was silent waiting for him to answer.

“My older brothers.”

“EH?”

“Wait, didn’t you mention an older brother earlier Ebony?” Usopp turned to me, hands on his head and threading his fingers through his dreadlocks.

“I’ve met Portgas D. Ace, he was kind if a bit boisterous and not really able to hold his liquor too well." 

"Really? He used to be pretty good at drinking." Luffy looked as if Christmas had come early, as if sensing some good blackmail material on his older brother. I grinned at the captain, happy to oblige.

"I think it's due to the fact that he's a logia made of fire. Fire and alcohol usually don't mix very well." Thinking for a moment, "Unless that's the intent? I wonder if we purposely got him drunk? How much do you think he'd set on fire?"

Luffy laughed until he cried. "That would be the funniest thing ever!"

No one had noticed, except for Luffy, that I had manoeuvred the conversation away from the plural of _brothers_. He gave me a grateful nod and mouthed that they would talk later. I was a little wary, but if I could tell anyone anything it'd be Monkey D. Luffy. Maybe he thought that Ace had told me about Sabo?

Sanji brought over our meals; some sort of fish with a hollandaise sauce and vegetables that looked as though they had been steamed. (It reminded me a little of the steamed salmon dish that I used to get every time I would go to IKEA.)

“Where’s Zoro?”

“Still sleeping.”

 _Wow._ I didn’t realise how much he actually slept, it was a wonder that he got any training done at all.

“Where are the two freeloaders?” Usopp asked.

Through a mouth full of food Luffy answered, “Out on the deck.”

That was the end to the conversation, as Sanji took out something for Zoro to eat (begrudgingly if I might add) and we all ate our meals. I had to keep a sharp eye on my food, as rubber hands were getting a little too friendly with whatever food I had on my plate, swatting the captains hand away a good dozen times before I glared at him and he smiled sheepishly.

“Who is on watch first? Do we have a roster?”

The others looked at each other and shook their heads. So we don’t have a roster for watch order.

“I can take first watch if you want me to? Say three hour shifts?” 

“That sounds good!” Nami nodded in agreement. 

“I’ll take the next watch then?” Usopp asked and I nodded.

“I’ll take the next one, then.” Nami volunteered herself.

“I’ll write up a roster then, so we can rotate around.” The others nodded in agreement and I took out a notebook and started to work out a timetable. 

“I’ll stay up with Ebony!” We all looked at Luffy for a bit, “She can start teaching me how to read then!”

“If that’s what you want, Captain.” He nodded. “Alright then. Just reading tonight?”

“I’ll work on writing another time! I want to be able to read our adventures!”

And that was that.

 

* * *

 

Marco and Ace stood in front of their Captain, Edward ‘Whitebeard’ Newgate, one of the Four Yonko. Whitebeard was currently looking forlornly out onto the ocean, heart aching due to the despair that a man he called his son had put him through.

“He must have been planning this for a longtime.”

These were the words that they didn’t wish to hear being said aloud. But they had to be, otherwise it would fester and poison the thoughts of the crew; that one of their own had sought out joining the crew purely to secure their own future, callously disregarding the trust that had been placed onto his shoulders. When a person sets out to be a pirate, they are putting their lives in the hands of their crew; the crew being pretty much the only people that they could actually trust.

To go ahead and betray that trust was something unthought of. It was unforgivable. Marco couldn’t help but want to bash some heads in.

“This friend of yours, is there anyway of contacting them?” 

“I have her Den Den number.” Ace replied to his father, barely stemming his rage at the bastard who dared to betray his nakama.

“Give her a call after you’ve left.” 

This pulled Ace up short, having thought that his Oyaji would say no to him leaving to chase after Teach.

“You’re letting me go after him?”

“Yes, Marco will take over your division until you get back.” Whitebeard looked down at his sons. “I expect you to keep in regular contact.”

Ace nodded, having expected that.

As an afterthought Whitebeard added, “I want to meet this friend of yours, too.”

“OYAJI!”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that they didn’t know if Thatch would survive Ace blushed bright red and buried his head in his hands as his captain and brother laughed at him.

“GURARARARARA!”

 

* * *

 

It was around nine thirty at night, every else had gone to bed with the exception of Luffy and myself. Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine were stowed away in the empty captains cabin, partially because there was nothing in it and partially because it would be easier to keep an eye on them.

“Ebony!”

Turning around, I could see my captain’s sunny smile before he sat down beside my with a plop. It was nice to see someone who despite all the hardships could still smile so brightly.

“Evening captain. Where do you want to start?”

He looked at me for a moment. “How did you meet Ace?”

Whatever he was going to ask me I didn’t expect that. 

“I’d only been in Loguetown for about two months at that point when I met your brother. I was working as a bartender and a rookie crew walked through the doors, their Captain was pretty drunk at this point and continued to get even drunker. I realised pretty early on that they were the Spade Pirates that people had been talking about.”

“They must have been partying before they went into the bar.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the accuracy. “They were. I believe at this point they were just getting noticed by the marines. I think they got their first bounties after they left Loguetown.”

Luffy laughed, “That would probably do it. I didn’t know everyone on that crew, but I knew a few of them. They keep in touch and let me know how everything is going, especially now that I'm out on the open seas now. They think I'll get into too much trouble.”

He had a pout on his face at the last bit.  _They weren't entirely wrong to worry about him getting into_ _trouble._

“They're probably right about the trouble part though, Captain. What about Ace?”

“He rang me every month from the time he left to the time I left Foosha Village. What about you?” 

“He rings me every now and again, something about liking to keep me updated and to see how I’m doing? His first mate, Deuce sends me letters every few months.” 

We sat in silence for a moment.

“Ace and I are the only ones left, you know.”

Now that was something I wasn’t expecting and I wasn’t sure how to respond without blurting that Sabo was alive. 

Luffy continued. “He ran away from his parents, _nobles_. And then his boat was shot down by the Celestial Dragons, he left us a letter. We didn’t even find his body”

“I’m sorry Luffy.” Thinking quickly, maybe I could give him a little hope. “Maybe he’s still out there somewhere?”

Luffy turned and stared at me, with sharp calculating eyes. He didn’t have access to his Haoshoku Haki just yet, but you could feel it simmering in the background, ready to be set free. (You could also see the similarities between Ace and him when he gave a person that look.) “What do you mean?”

“Stranger things have happened, but what if. _What if_ he survived somehow?” 

“He would have told us!” Luffy sounded like he was going to cry. I put a hand on his shoulder and he leant into it.

“A kid being shot at, by what I’m assuming a massive cannon might have knocked him out. Maybe he just doesn’t remember? I don’t know, I just think that without seeing _him_ you may never know.”

“Hard evidence, right?” His voice was muffled by him squishing himself against my shoulder. 

“Exactly.”

There was another long moment of silence. I have a feeling that if Sabo doesn’t show up in Alabasta when we next see Ace and Luffy spills my ‘theory’ about their dead brother not actually being dead, regardless of how much he liked me, I would be barbecue a la Ebony. Scorched and fried. Char grilled. How many metaphors for _deader than and more loathed than the Pirate King_ could I come up with? Lots and lots. And everything to do with fire.

“No more depressing stories! I want to learn how to read!”

“Mah, mah! Okay, okay.” I grabbed the little book from my pocket and a pen. “So we’ll start with the alphabet; do you know how to write your name?”

“I know how to spell my name, Ace’s name and Sabo’s. Nothing else.”

“Well that’s where we can start from.” I started to write them down on the book, spacing them out to clearly show each individual letter. “Are there any other words before I start the alphabet?”

“Meat, nakama. Oh and King of the Pirates!”

“Of course, so meat is M. E. A. T. and nakama is N. A. K. A. M. A.” Sounding out each letter, I wrote down each letter as I did so with Luffy following along beside me. “And the last is King of the Pirates, so K. I. N. G. O. F. T. H. E. P. I. R. A. T. E. S.”

After this I started to teach him the alphabet, singing it first something that Luffy really seemed to enjoy as he joined in on the second round. I wasn't much of a singer, and was lucky to have escaped my cousins curse of sounding like a strangled cat. Luffy however could hold a tune. This continued on until Usopp came and took over the watch.

 

* * *

 

“Why is it so freaking cold?” I was shivering, despite wearing at least four different layers. Gods how I hated cold weather. “Why is it snowing?”

I know I was complaining but I was more used to the warmer weather and had only very rarely seen snow in my life.

Luffy on the other hand was having the time of his life, “May I present to you, the Man Who Fell From the Sky. MR SNOWMAN!”

Usopp laughed, “Really? Kids snow games…”

“What?”

“Behold the Snow Queen!” Usopp’s work wouldn’t have been out of place in an ice carving exhibition (despite being made of snow rather than a solid block of ice).

“That’s amazing, Usopp!”

“SNOW MAN PUNCH!” Usopp’s wonderful creation was now just a pile of snow on the deck and he launched himself at Luffy. The two play fought whilst I stood beside them, shivering. 

“NAMI-SWAN! How much longer do I continue with my shovelling of love?”

“Until is stops snowing, Sanji-kun.”

That was the first that I had heard the suffix on the end of his name. Come to think of it, people within the world of One Piece keep swapping between using continual Japanese suffixes and English suffixes. I shuddered, the longer I was here the more I was loosing my mind. Or acclimating to the craziness. Not sure which it was anymore.

“Of course!”

Lightening suddenly flashed through the sky. 

I honestly thought that back home had bipolar weather patterns, but home had nothing on the craziness of the Grand Line.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” A panicked scream came from Nami.

“What is it?” Everyone looked up at Nami, curious to see what was wrong. 

“This can't be happening!” She’d rushed out onto the balcony, looking down at the log pose on her wrist with trepidation. “TURN THE SHIP AROUND! HURRY!”

“Why are we turning around, have we forgotten something?” Usopp and Luffy paused in their play fight to look up at the navigator.

“This ship has turned itself around and is going in the opposite direction!”

“How long did you take your eyes off the log pose?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Nami gave me a dirty look, “A second or two! GAH! The calmness of the waves deceived me!”

There must have been some commentary from our not so welcome guests because they were sent flying by Nami’s kick to help us all on the deck.

“Catch the wind from the right, we need it to turn the ship one hundred and eighty degrees around!” Nami continued to give out orders. “Usopp take the jib sail!”

“Got it!”

“Sanji, Ebony take the rudder!”

“Leave it to us, Nami-swan!” “Aye, aye _navigatrice_!”

“Nami! The winds just changed!”

“They can’t have!”

“Ah, the first breeze of spring.” Now don’t get me wrong, I liked Vivi, but by the Gods was she annoying as Miss Wednesday. I kind of wanted to box her ears in.

“ZORO! IT’S AN EMERGENCY! WAKE UP!” 

The swordsman must have been exhausted, because not only was last nights meal still sitting beside him from when Sanji had taken it out to him, but he was still snoring away.

The chaos of the next few minutes was a blur, shouting and kicking, punching and with the Going Merry grazing an iceberg we safely made it out onto calmer seas, and in the right direction.

“That was a good nap.”

Zoro had finally woken up, it seemed. How he could have slept through all of that I’m not entirely sure.

“Come on, I know that the weather is nice but don’t you think we should be doing something? Are we going the correct way?”

I laughed from where I was laying on the ground. _That was rich coming from the man who could get lost walking in a straight line, even when given the right directions!_

Zoro had only just noticed Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine, “Since when were you two on our ship?”

“YOU JUST NOTICED NOW!”

I sat up and commented, “Well he did just wake up. Have any good dreams, Zoro?”

“Yeah, one where I was kicking Swirly brows’ arse.”

“What did you say, _marimo_?” 

“Nothing, cook.” The word ‘ _cook_ ’ had never sounded more like an insult than it did in the moment.

“Shishishishi! We’re dropping them off at their town, Zoro!”

“Why? It’s not like we’re obligated to do so.”

“I know.”

Zoro leant down in front of the two not-guests, “There is something sinister about your faces. What are your names again?”

The two started to sweat a little at the evil grin on Zoro’s face. 

“M-mister Nine…” “I’m Miss Wednesday.”

He scratched his chin. “Something about those names is familiar. Been bugging me since I heard them.”

“I’ve got to agree with Zoro.” I cut in before Nami could throw a punch and land it on Zoro’s head. 

“Something bugging you too, huh?”

“Yeah.”

The evil aura coming from Nami made Zoro stiffen. “Did you have a nice sleep? You wouldn’t wake up no matter what we did.”

 _Danger! Danger!_ Warning signals were going off in my head. 

“Huh?” Was probably one of the singular, most stupid things that Zoro could have said to Nami in that situation, which is why I didn’t stop the next three or four punches that landed.

“You really didn’t think that through, did you?”

“Shut up!” He sulked a little before asking, “Did you really try to wake me up?”

“Definitely, you were out of it. Completely and utterly.”

“Wow, sorry.” 

 

* * *

 

“I know that this is probably a stupid thing to say, but stay safe okay?” 

Marco was worried about his brother, he couldn’t help it. Marshall D. Teach may have killed Thatch, he still wasn’t out of the infirmary and no one but the doctors were allowed to see him, and now Ace was going after him. Alone.

“I’ll try my best. My little brother should have set sail by now, so I’ll try to meet up with him.”

“How old is he now?”

“He’d be seventeen. Where did all that time go?”

Marco laughed, “That’s what happens when you’re an older brother!”

Ace had finished setting up the small boat that he was going to use and turned to Marco. “I’ll ring every few days, yeah? And when I see Luffy I’ll see if I can set up a video Den Den, so that Oyaji can meet my little brother.”

“Sounds good, don’t forget to contact your friend. See if she knows anything that might help.”

“Will do.”

They stood there in silence for a moment, when suddenly there was a bunch of cheering.

“GO ACE! FIND THAT BASTARD!”

With the cheers and encouragement of his crew behind him, Ace set sail.

  

* * *

 

 “There’s Whisky Peak!” Luffy was sitting upon the reattached head of Merry. The crew were all standing at the railing looking to where the captain was pointing.

“Thank god we arrived alive!” Miss Wednesday couldn’t help but cheer.

“We ask that you please drop us off here!”

“Thank you ever so much for taking us here, my dears.” The two leapt up onto the railing. “If it is the design of fate, let us meet once again!”

“Bye bye!”

Miss Wednesday and Mister Nine both left off of the railing and dived into the water, swimming the rest of the way back to their Island.

“What is up with those two?”

“Forget them, prepare to land!”

Usopp started to look worried for a moment. “There wouldn’t be monsters on this island, would there?”

“Considering this is the Grand Line, there’s a possibility.” Sanji had said at the same time that I had said, “Vampires? Possibly. Ghosts more than likely.”

Luffy didn’t pay any attention that Usopp looked close to fainting all of a sudden. “We can always run if that’s the case!”

“Guys, don’t forget to be able to move onto the next island, the log pose has to set again.” Nami held up here arm. “It depends on the island as to how long this could take. Some islands it’s a few hours others can take a few days.”

“Does that mean if there are vampires we have to stay here for a few days before we can leave?” Usopp was really stuck on the fact that there might be vampires on the island.

Nami nodded. “That is correct!”

“We’ll worry about it when it happens! Let’s just leave already!” Luffy was grinning happily.

“I’ve suddenly developed the 'can't enter islands’ disease.”

“With a side ordering of ‘pants on fire’, too?” I snarked at the sniper.

“The river is waiting for us!” Luffy was egging us on to go towards the island.

“There’s not much use worrying about it now, lets just go.” Zoro agreed with the captain, as I kept making ghost noises to further freak Usopp out.

I couldn’t help it. I know that it was childish but I needed to do it. Well, not _needed_ to but sometimes he took it a little too far. 

“Cut it out, Ebony!”

“No can do, Usopp. Besides, what about the ghosts?”

He gave a squeal of fright, making me laugh. A little evilly. Well, what could I say? I was a pirate now, I had to get my fun somehow.

“Hey, can you guys hear anything?” Nami asked.

“Maybe it’s the ghosts.”

“Stop it!”

“Jokes aside, I can hear something. It sounds like people.”

“WELCOME!” A loud shout was heard through the fog. As it cleared the island was in full view.

The cactus like mountains were odd, you could see the fine prickles rising  up and down all of them. In front of the cacti mountains was the town, a scattering of buildings and a strong stench of alcohol filtering through the air.

“PIRATES! WELCOME TO OUR TOWN!

“WELCOME TO THE GRAND LINE!”

“No vampires or ghosts, there’s people greeting us.”

“This is off. Somethings not right.” I couldn’t help but say and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Zoro had come up beside me and nodded. He could feel it too.

You could see banners waving and cheers. The whole situation made me uncomfortable and even though I knew exactly what was going to happen I still would have felt off.

“LONG LIVE THE BRAVE HEROES OF THE SEAS!”

“Lovely ladies!” Sanji was waving and swooning at the same time. It was a little gross.

“Really Sanji?”

“All the pretty ladies!” He was lost, completely and utterly.

Coming into port and disembarking from the ship was an odd experience. Especially being welcomed by cheers as a criminal was just wrong.

“Ma-ma-maa! Welcome, my name is Igarappoi.” The mans curls were absolutely insane, and there was no way that they could have been natural. They had to be a perm or set in rollers as they were. “You may be a little bit shocked at the warm welcome, however this is Whisky Peak. A town famous for it’s music and liquor. We pride ourselves on our hospitality.”

“We have an oceans amount of fine liquor, so do not worry. I, on behalf of Whisky Peak invite you to our banquet.” He cleared his throat. “I hope that you share your tales with us.”

Usopp and Sanji swung their arms over Luffy’s shoulders. “GLADLY!”

Nami sighed, Zoro glowered and I face palmed. _The Idiot Trio._

“How long will the island take to record on the log pose?”

“Don’t worry about such matters at the moment, rest and relax.”

“PLEASE PREPARE THE BANQUET!” He put his hand on Nami’s shoulder. I could see her flinch a little and I narrowed my eyes at the movement. 

“Would you please let go of our friend?” I asked, my tone mild. Igaram, well,  _Igarappoi_  instantly let go of Nami’s shoulder

“My apologies, Miss.” Nami nodded. “Let us sing to these adventurers!”

This was going to end badly, I could feel it.

 

* * *

 

Why was this crew full of drunkards? 

Usopp had somehow surrounded himself with a bunch of admirers, telling tall tales about his wonderful adventures as Captain Usopp. It was unbelievable.

”Don’t you dare lay a hand on my crew mates, you sea king Bastard.”

“Don’t forget the mermaid princess, Usopp.”

“I couldn’t forget the mermaid princess now could I?” My interjection brought him another round of applause and questions.

_Men._

Nami and Zoro were outdrinking a number of people. Zoro was almost completely out of it, but Nami was still going strong. How that woman did it, I honestly had no idea.

“What a couple of heavy drinkers!”

At least that was something they got right.

“MORE!” The captain was eating as much as he could possibly digest at any one point, his rubber body expanding to keep up with the intake of food. There were a couple of cooks, completely passed out underneath the table.

_An eating competition between Jewelry Bonney and Monkey D. Luffy would either be a spectacle to witness or an absolute disaster in the making and I’m not sure exactly which. It would be fun to find out, though!_

“Look at this lady killer! Twenty ladies to be flirted with at once!”

Did Igaram really have to announce it to everyone, everywhere? 

“And the quiet mysterious one! Reading in the corner with one of our fine wines!” And so I was. Well, I wasn’t reading and I definitely wasn’t drinking the wine. I don’t even much like wine. I was keeping an eye on the situation under the guise of reading, Nami and Zoro would be fine but it was the others that I was worried about. Maybe not so much Sanji, but then again if you put a female in front of him he’d be putty in your hands. Luffy and Usopp were the kind of naive that was adorable, but could potentially be very dangerous.

“WHAT A PIRATE CREW!”

The party got louder and louder, and I could see Igaram slowly slipping away and out the door.

In the next twenty minutes, the crew was pretty out of it and slowly slipping into comas of the various sorts. I pretended to sleep but I wouldn’t and couldn’t allow harm to come to anyone here. 

We were all carried to a small hotel after we had all ‘passed out’. Once I was sure that nobody was watching I quietly got up. 

“You to?”

Of course it was Zoro.

“Well if it wasn’t the welcome we got, the weaponry in their pockets was something that was definitely happy to see us.”

We made it onto the roof without anyone noticing we were gone, until a panicked shout came running out of the room where the rest of the crew was sleeping.

“MISTER EIGHT! MISS MONDAY! TWO OF THEIR CREW HAS ESCAPED!”

“Well it looks like we’ve been found out, huh Zoro?”

“True, Ebony.”

“Why you!” Igaram was red with fury. “Weren’t you passed out after drinking so much? And you, weren’t you exhausted from the trip?”

“A true swordsman never allows alcohol to take control of himself.”

“I’m the oldest, so my crew is _my_ responsibility.”

“Really?” Zoro asked, not taking his eyes off of our opponents.

“I’m turning twenty-one.”

“You are the oldest.”

“I did tell you.”

“Ch.. This is a den of bounty hunters and you take advantage out newbies, rookie pirate crews who have just entered the Grand Line.”

“There’s what, one hundred of them?”

“Around about, yeah.”

“Well what do you say Zoro? Baroque Works?”

“They’ll make a fine opponent for us.”

Our banter had definitely shocked the Baroque Works members, having not expected any of our crew to know of their organisation. And they made that perfectly clear.

“I don’t know about Ebony here, but I refused an invitation to join you lot once upon a time. You’re an organisation whose members know nothing about each other and refer to each other by code names.”

“I’m an information broker.” Was my only answer.

“Of course your boss’ location and identity are a complete mystery .” Zoro gave a chilling grin, that I matched. “A criminal organisation that asks for the complete obedience from their members; Baroque Works.”

I cocked my head to the side, “Was that supposed to be a secret?”

“We must eliminate them both, we have no choice. They know to much.” Igaram cast his eyes downwards. “Two more tombstones to be added to the cactus rock tonight.”

“KILL THEM!”

Zoro and I jumped out of the way, landing in the middle of the Baroque Works group.

“Their gone!” “Where did they go?”

They only noticed us when I started to giggle. 

Zoro gave a sunny, albeit creepy grin. “Shall we get started then?”

“You bastard! Shoot them!”

I crouched as low as I could whilst Zoro cut the group, their bullets and their weaponry.We once again disappeared, this time ending up behind Igaram.

“Hurry up and kill them! The woman’s defenceless and he’s only was swordsman!”

_Defenceless? That wanker! I’ll show him defenceless!_

Zoro had place one sword at Igaram’s neck, whilst I had a knife pointed at the back of his thigh. I dug the blade in a little, cutting through the fabric and drawing a little blood.

“Are you sure that you want to only add two headstones tonight?”

Guns were pointed at Igaram, Zoro and myself.

“ARE YOU PLANNING ON SHOOTING ME TOO?!”

We moved before they could even think about shooting at us, hiding behind a wall in front of them.

“Where did they go now? They can’t be planning on taking us all on by themselves, can they?”

“Those two don’t seem to be taking us seriously. They don’t understand the power of Baroque Works.”

“Are you going to test the new ones out?”

Zoro grinned and nodded, “No need to hold anything back, right?”

“Pretty much.”

“FOUND THEM!”

The sound of a gun being cocked caused Zoro to roll forward into the house and myself to dive. Once in the house we were surrounded by guns pointed at us on all sides. Hiding behind the table and using it as a shield was the only thing that we could really do.

 **“YUBASHIRI!”** Cut straight through our shield and made the bounty hunters in fromt of go flying, hitting right into the wall knocking themselves out.

“I’ll go this way, you go that way!” 

We separated from there, probably not the best idea but in a small confined space with swords and guns it probably wasn’t the best idea for me to be involved .

“FOUND THE WOMAN!”

“I DO HAVE A NAME YOU KNOW!”

“WE DON’T CARE!”

Those that were chasing me had blades, not a gun in sight. There was a good thirty of them. 

_Good. I should be able to handle you lot. Cannon fodder that you are._

“Well, come closer. If you dare.” And they did dare. 

I took a couple of blades to the palms of my hands, and they were blunt. 

“Really? You should take better care of your weapons.” 

I grabbed the blades, as brittle as they were snapped easily in my hands. Punching another couple out, and another one was kicked into the wall. The last few were easier to knock out, slamming their heads together.

I looked down at a pile of unconscious bodies in front of my feet. “Seriously, is this the best you lot can offer?”

If I smoked this would have been the perfect moment to pull out a cigarette and light it. No wait, a _cigar_ and smoke it. Like a badarse. 

“HE’S COMING THIS WAY!” 

I looked up into the sky and saw the silhouette of the first mate. Rather dramatic, especially when bullets went flying past him.

**“NITORYU TAKA NAMI!”**

“Not bad. Does it work well for you?”

“It’s working good.” 

“ABOVE!”

“Don’t worry about it.” He grinned at me, motioning towards the fact that he’d already cut the ground we were standing on.

THWACK! 

_Fudge! That hurt!_

I winced inwardly, but gave no outward sign that being hi with a ladder had hurt in any way, shape or form.

“Too close!”

Hearing the cracking of knuckles from above us. Miss Monday had stood on one of Zoro’s arm and my leg.

**“SUPER HUMAN FLOUR GRINDER!”**

This punch landed right on Zoro’s face, surprising as I didn’t hear anything crack. 

She went to continue her attack on my, but Zoro had reached up with one hand and grabbed her face.

“Where’s that strength you’re so proud of?” Zoro mocked the woman

“Now, now. Let me have a go.” I cracked my own knuckles, the dusters I used primarily making their way onto my hands.

I grabbed the Baroque Works woman by the arm as Zoro let the woman’s face. I used only half of my strength, but the woman was knocked out completely and utterly.

“Defenceless am I?”

“They both beat Miss Monday in terms of pure strength!”

“That’s impossible!”

“No way!”

Turning to face the others, we stood almost back to back. 

“Shall we continue?”

“This isn’t a game, you know?”

We grinned at the Baroque Works members who had seemingly come to a conclusion of their own.

“Ah huh! That wanted poster must be for the swordsman!”

I rolled my eyes, this could not be happening.

“I could understand that! He must be the real captain!”

“And the woman is the first mate!”

“I feel insulted now.” I stated. “Honestly, shouldn’t you guys know better than to judge a book by there cover?”

“Luffy could have kicked all your arses.” Zoro finished off.


	7. concordia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[concordia - friend, mutual agreement]_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while since I've uploaded a chapter. I'm really sorry about that, but university has been in full swing and is taking up most, if not all of my time. I really hope that you like this chapter!

"Ebony! Zoro!"

 _Crap._ Luffy sounded mad and apparently Zoro's sense of danger was broken. (That would explain a lot actually.)

"If you're here to offer help, we don't need it."

"Don't bring me into this!" I hid behind Zoro, hissing my words. I know that there were other things to worry about at the time, but Luffy was (in that moment) one of the singular most terrifying things I had ever seen.

"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU BOTH! FIGHT ME!"

"Abort! Abort! Abort!" I sounded like a broken record, stuck.

"What? What kind of stupid, idiotic things are you sprouting this time?" Zoro was ignoring my frantic motions to silence him.

"YOU TWO ARE UNGRATEFUL BASTARDS! AND YOU NEED TO GET YOUR ARSES KICKED!"

"I'll have you know that my parents were married. So technically your argument is invalid."

The two of them were off in their own little world, even if Luffy was addressing the both of us.

"Ungrateful?" Zoro sounded so indignant and offended that it would have made me laugh if I wasn't so terrified that Luffy would try and break my nose.

"Exactly! Ungrateful!"

Luffy lifted his head back and shouted towards the sky. "These guys gave us such a friendly welcome, with really yummy food and this is how you repay them! By cutting them up and punching them?"

"Can't deny that we did." "I did cut them, but…"

"What an annoying bunch of brats."

"Kyahahahahaha! Let's just kill them already!"

Meanwhile Zoro and I were still pleading with the captain to listen to us, but the food coma must have been worse than what I had originally thought. It had warped his sensibilities an absolutely idiotic amount.

"Listen, Luffy these guys were actually-"

I leant backwards, grabbing the back of Zoro's shirt just in time, as Luffy had come barreling towards us shouting about us not having any excuses.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?"

"YES!"

"Oh my god." Dodging the blows coming from the rubber pirate and the rockfall that those blows were causing, there was little time for me to even attempt to talk. Zoro on the other hand was still trying to plead our case to our murderous captain.

"Listen to what we've got to say!"

"Hey! Come on Luffy!"

Luffy had focused his attempts mostly on Zoro, allowing me to try and keep an eye on the blue haired woman behind me. Mister Five and Miss Valentine still wanted to carry out an assassination attempt on her.

"MOVE OUT MISS VALENTINE!" "ROGER THAT MISTER FIVE!"

Luffy went flying through a bunch of barrels, then a building as Zoro kicked him.

"That idiot!"

"That was a good job, Zoro."

He looked at me questioningly, as I pointed towards the now downed Baroque Works duo.

"Heh, not bad. Not bad."

"Please allow us the honour of killing you!" An evil aura seemed to rise up around Mister Five as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

 

* * *

 

Ace rang the number that Ebony had given him, the one that he could normally contact her on, but all he was getting was static. He tried again and once more it went to static. He tried ringing her work number, just in case something had happened to her own Den Den mushi.

"Moshi, moshi. The Underground Bar Burgundy Bailey speaking, how can I help you?"

"Yo Bailey, it's Ace."

"Ah Ace-san, how are you?"

"Could be better, could be worse."

"Fair enough, what can I do to help."

"Is Ebony around?"

There was a silence from the other end and a couple of bottles being smashed. "One moment Ace-san, a fight has broken out."

"That's okay, I'll wait."

Five minutes later Bailey was back, "Ebony's not here, she went and joined a pirate crew. She said something about wanting to keep an eye on her captain because 'who knows what sort of mischief he will get himself into.'"

That was why, she was probably sailing through a storm. Those generally messed with the connectivity of the den den mushi.

"Do you know which crew?"

"From what I heard it was a newly formed crew, a rookie one with a Straw Hat for a Jolly Roger."

Ace froze for a minute. What other crew would have a straw hat on their flag besides his cute little brother? "Do you know the name of the captain?"

"I do. Smoker came through before he took after them complaining about a Monkey D. Luffy."

Ace burst into laughter at this. Of course Ebony would decide to join his little brother! She'd certainly been told enough about him over the years. And she was Luffy's brand f crazy, although to a lesser degree. No one could be a nuts as his brother. "Ace-san?"

"Ah sorry Bailey, it's just that Luffy is my brother!"

"Really? That could explain a lot then!"

"Yes it does."

"Oh! I almost forget! Ebony told me to tell you to be patient, and something about Alabasta?"

"Alabasta?"

"Mmmm, she said that you'd probably see her there!"

"I'll take that on board, Bailey. I've got to go now though, talk another time?"

"Sure thing, Ace-san! Ebony will be happy to see you!" With that call went silent and Ace stared at the silent snail.

He now had something to go off of, following the trail of the now named Blackbeard and meeting up with his little brothers crew and Ebony in Alabasta sounded good for him.

Now there was another call he had to make.

 

* * *

 

"Oh for… Honestly you two!"

Any protests I had were ignored, as the rubber idiot _Captain_ and the stupid green _Swordsman_ went at it.

I turned to the now very peeved and battered Baroque Works members, "I'd apologise for this but this is technically all your organisations fault."

"SHUT UP! LET'S GO MISS VALENTINE!"

"OF COURSE MISTER FIVE!"

" **You two are so annoying."**

_Says the two idiots fighting over nothing._

Miss Valentine and Mister Five froze, terrified as they came into contract with a fist and the but of a sword.

Enough was enough and if Nami could get between the two during an argument, then so could I. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe? Life or death, I would do it anyway.

"Continue?"

"Yes!"

"How about no?" With immune bravery or latent stupidity, not sure which, I grabbed the two by their shirts and slammed them together.

"Nice going, Ebony." Nami had come up behind me and patted my shoulder. "Not quite what I would have done, but nice nonetheless."

"I suppose you would have punched them both?" I asked her, my tone of voice dry.

"Probably." She turned to the downed captain and swordsman. "What on earth do think you two were doing? Although it should be a good thing that the girl is safe."

"You two idiots were about to cost me one billion beli!"

"Really Nami?"

"Yes! She's a princess! She'd have the money!"

Zoro and Luffy had resumed their fight and this time Nami was the one to make them stop.

"Settle down already!"

"So, how about a contract?"

Vivi looked startled. "A contract?"

Somehow between Nami, Vivi and myself the reasons for Zoro and I fighting the townspeople came out and Luffy laughed.

"I thought you angry with them because they didn't make your favourite food!"

Zoro and Nami face palmed.

"Nah, Captain. I haven't seen anyone make my favourite food, so there's no use kicking up a fuss about it."

"Oh! Oh! What's your favourite food?"

This conversation had gotten wildly off topic, but it was settling the mood so I wasn't going to complain too much.

"Lasagne."

"Lasagne? What's that?" Luffy cocked his head to the side.

"Delicious is what it is. Yummy, cheesy white sauce. Thin layers of pasta and scrumptious marinara sauce with beef layered. Oh how I miss it!"

Luffy's tongue had lolled out of his mouth at my description. "That sounds amazing! (Not as amazing as meat, but still amazing.) We should have Sanji make it!"

"Sounds good, Captain!"

"Can you two focus?" Nami looked mildly annoyed at the both of us.

"Sorry Nami." "My apologies, navigator."

"So about that contract?"

"I refuse!"

"Huh?"

"You do have my gratitude for saving my life just now, however."

"But, but you're a princess! A billion beli should be easy…"

Vivi shook her head. "Have you ever heard of a kingdom called Alabasta?"

I nodded whilst the others said no.

"One of you has, that's less than what I would have thought." Vivi started to explain. "My country used to be a peaceful, highly sophisticated country. However for the past few years it has been in the midst of a Revolution. Due to the radical Alabastian Revolutionaries my country has been in a state of chaos for years."

"One day I heard about an organisation that was investigating the Revolutionaries in Alabasta called Baroque Works, but other than that I didn't know anything about them. I made a request to Igaram."

"The guy with the chikuwa hair?" Luffy asked, demonstrating the curls. I couldn't help but laugh at the movement.

"Yes him. I asked if we could infiltrate Baroque Works, as that would be the only way to clear the shadow hanging over Alabasta and to see what the end goal of Baroque Works actually is."

"You love your country a lot. And the people." I couldn't help but admire this kid, this _woman_ for doing something like this as a person of her position.

She gave me a sad smile.  
"Aren't you a brave one, princess?" I couldn't tell if Zoro was being sarcastic or not, but clear admiration was shining for the princess in his eyes.

"What's the deal with the 'creation of an ideal nation' that that organisation is working towards?" Nami backtracked. "Don't tell me."

Vivi nodded. "I'm afraid so. Their true intention is to take over my home, my _kingdom_ , Alabasta. And if I can't get home in time to stop the Revolutionaries and tell my people about Baroque Works, their plan will go ahead unhindered!"

"That explains why you refused a contract. You're in the middle of a civil war, no money to spare."

"Is everything about money with you, navigator?"

"Yep!" She flashed me a sunny grin, beli signs in her eyes and the v for victory hand sign. I resisted the urge to flip her off with my own hand sign.

"Who is the boss dude, anyway?" Luffy asked and I slipped my hood back onto my head. It wouldn't do for the unluckies to get their hands on my identity (or lack thereof), would it?

"Don't ask me that! You're better off not knowing his true identity! If Baroque Works knew you knew they would hunt you down!"  
"Not that we aren't already being hunted down, though."

Zoro nodded towards me. "She's got a point."

"Thank you."

Nami laughed nervously. "Please just leave us out of it! I mean, this guy is planning to take over a country, so he must be incredibly dangerous and powerful."

"Yes, exactly he is. Not matter how strong you pirates may be, you wouldn't be a match for Sir Crocodile of the Oka Shichibukai."

Silence, complete and utter silence as Nami and Vivi looked at each other with horror.

Looking up, a bird and an otter had just taken a picture of us and flew off.

I started to laugh whilst Nami attempted to strangle the princess. This was priceless; reading the manga and watching the anime was nothing on seeing it happen in real life.

"EBONY! HOW CAN YOU BE LAUGHING AT A TIME LIKE THIS! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

"S-s-sorry Nami, but…" I couldn't finish my sentence as I started to laugh even harder.

Vivi was pleading with Nami by the point. "I'm so so sorry. It just slipped out!"

"Not even really in the Grand Line and we've already got the Shichibukai on our tails!:

Zoro and Luffy were in stark contrast to the crying and wailing of Nami and Vivi. The two were talking excitedly, looking every bit their seventeen and nineteen years.

"I wonder what kind of guy he is?"

"We'll be lucky if we can meet him early!"

"SHUT IT YOU TWO! AND EBONY STOP LAUGHING!"

"Mah, mah. I'll try." I didn't try to stop laughing.

Nami got up and started to walk away. "It's been really good sailing with you guys, see you!"

"Where are you going?"

"They haven't got my face yet, so I'm leaving before they do!"

The otter from earlier was in her path, sketching away. Having shown her the sketches and getting her approval he ran off.

"Now I can't even run away!"

"Where were you going to run off to?" Zoro asked her.

"Anywhere but here!"

"Well it looks as though the four of us are now on the Baroque Works hit list!"

"AWESOME!"

"Could be so much worse." I patted Nami's shoulder as she collapsed into the foetal position.

"I have a plan!"

Turning around Igaram, despite his size and height could definitely pull of a mildly convincing Nefertari Vivi cosplay. I do wonder where he would have got those clothes on such short notice, however.

"I-Igaram? Why are you wearing that?"

Luffy however smiled, "You can definitely pull that look off!"

"Why am I surrounded by idiots?" Nami couldn't help but wail.

"Idiots make the world go around. I mean, look at the Marines and the World Government." Thinking for a moment. "Not to mention the Celestial Dragons."

"You make a very good point, Ebony. A very good point."

Igaram had started to talk again, explaining his plan to Vivi and us by extension.

"Although the boss hasn't got a bounty since he is a member of the Shichibukai, he once had an eighty million bell bounty during his reign as a pirate."

 _Eighty million beli? That's absolutely tiny in comparison to what some pirates have in the New World._ I had forgotten that his bounty was only so large. In the Original Timeline or Alternate Timeline (that's the easiest way that I could put it in my head; think Star Trek and that reboot.) Luffy's had been way higher than that once he had reached the New World and as far as I could remember had never been offered a Shichibukai position. Then again that could be because he had declared war on the World Government.

"By the way, have you decided if you were going to take the Princess back to Alabasta?" Igaram had turned to Luffy, only now recognising him as the captain.

"Huh?"

"He want's us to take her back to Alabasta so that she may be safe." I quickly explained for him.

"Sure, that's fine by me."

Nami on the other hand lost it. "Eighty million? That's what, four times Arlong's bounty!"

"Nami, eighty billion beli is a teeny tiny bounty in the grand scheme of things." She started to tear up more and I wasn't sure if it was an over exaggeration or not.

"Princess, may I have eternal log pose?"

"What's that?"

"I'm surprised you don't know, as you're the navigator." Igaram sighed. "In simple terms it is a log pose that can record the magnetic fields for eternity, whilst a normal log pose can only record the magnetic field of a singular island to guide you to the next one from the ship."

"This eternal log pose will never forget the island that it has originally picked up and this one is set and recorded for Alabasta."

"I haven't sailed to Alabasta using the normal route, however the should be at least two or three islands, logs to record on the way there. Take care." He bowed to his Princess. "I hope we may meet again in our homeland."

Turning to us he stated. "I leave the princess in your care."

"We'll take care of her, don't worry." I wanted to make sure that we would do our best, even if he didn't entirely trust a bunch of pirates and rookie ones at that. Who knows what a group of rookie pirates would do to a civilian, let alone a princess to gain a name for themselves?

He smiled slightly. "I have seen the character of your crew, as you and the swordsman fought to protect the rest of your crew. I am not worried."

That surprised me a lot. We were strangers, complete strangers and all due to one fight where Zoro and I protected the crew in their sleep we were trusted to take care of a princess?

"Be careful, your highness."

"Take care of yourself, Igaram."

And with that he left us behind.

"He was such a funny guy, too!"

"He has always been dependable."

The moment Vivi said this a massive explosion was heard and seen, the ship that had been carrying Igaram had been set alight. A burning furnace in the distance. Normally I would have looked at Vivi, as her having clearly just lost someone. But I looked at the captain instead.

It was like he had seen a ghost.

While Nami had put an arm around Vivi, I had reached out towards the captain, putting my hand on his shoulder. This seemed to shake him out of whatever flash back he had found himself in. He reached up and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze to let me know that he was okay.

"No!"

"Already?"

"NAMI! THE LOG POSE?"

"It's finished!"

"We've got to go! Where's Sanji and Usopp?"

"You go get them, I'll get the ship ready!" Zoro shouted towards Luffy, who nodded and ran off.

"Vivi! We've got to go! If they find us now, Igaram's sacrifice will be in vain!"

"We'll get you back to Alabasta, safe!"

Nami and I comforted Vivi, who was crying and not making a sound. We ended up having to almost drag her back towards the ship before she started to run by herself.

"I'll go help Zoro!"

"Got it!"

I pushed myself to go faster.

"Oi! Need a hand?"

Zoro had been slightly struggling with the odd angle of the anchor, so I jumped onto the Going Merry to yank it over the side of the ship and onto the deck.

"I've got Sanji and Usopp!"

Luffy was half dragging, half carrying the other two. One by his nose and the other by his foot.

"We're ready to leave at any moment!"

"Vivi! We haven't got time to look for him!"

"The duck is on board already!" I shouted down, no time to waste.

"He was here before us." Zoro pointed at the duck.

"THANK GOD!"

Vivi motioned towards the river, "Head down the river and we should be able to reach the ocean to leave as soon as possible!"

"How many guys do you think will come after us?"

"Not sure, but there are meant to be at least two thousand people working for Baroque Works." Vivi thought about it for a moment. "Whisky Peak like towns aren't uncommon, so I expect that we'll run into one of those on our path."

Nami had only heard the amount of people that could be potentially coming after us. "Two thousand people?"

"Well, we do know the name of the boss."

Sanji and Usopp had no idea what was going on, panicking and yelling.

"I'll tell them what happened."

"Good, I didn't want to have to worry about telling them."

"Thanks Ebony!."

"Wimps." Luckily neither Nami nor Zoro had heard that comment, or I probably would have gotten a beating.

 

* * *

 

"Be careful not to crash your ship into the rocks nearest the shore line." A female voice was heard. Looking up was Nico Robin, or as she was currently known Miss All Sunday. I have to admit that she was pulling the femme fatale look off perfectly. "Congratulations on your escape!"

She looked around a little, "What a quaint little ship you have here."

"Who's that?"

"What?!"

Vivi looked terrified.

"I must tell you Miss Wednesday that I met up with Mister Eight a moment ago."

"What did you do to Igaram?" Vivi's voice shook.

"How did you get onto our ship, anyway?" Luffy was concerned at the fact that an outsider had gotten onto our ship without any of us noticing.

"What are you doing here, Miss All Sunday?"

"Who is that Vivi?" Nami asked her.

"I'd say by the way Vivi's staring at her, she's either a high ranking officer or," I turned to face the woman sitting on the railing in full. "The partner of the boss."

"You'd be right, Crow Queen." The last portion was said a little mockingly and i glared at her, not that you could see my eyes through my hood but the intent was still there.

"She's the only one who know's the bosses identity. Igaram and I tailed her to find out who he was!"

"It was more like I let you tail me."

"So she's a good guy!"

"I don't think she is at the moment, captain."

"I bet you're the one who told the boss that he was compromised!"

"So she's a bad guy!"

"Captain, please make up your mind."

"But Ebony, it's so complicated!"

"It's only complicated if you make it so, captain."

Miss All Sunday was watching the captain and I banter back and forth.

"What is your objective here Miss All Sunday?"

"No need to get so worked up, Miss Wednesday. I only let you tail me since you looked oh so desperate." I could tell that she was milking this for all it's worth. She'd been portrayed as the Devil's Child for so long that she had felt the need to become the devil's child. "Besides, it was amusing to observe a singular princess who thought that she could take on an entire organisation, Baroque Works and save her kingdom."

Usopp and Sanji had made their way up onto the balcony, next to the intruder.

"Don't you underestimate me!" Vivi shouted out, as we all reached for our weapons.

"Hey!"

"This woman is a threat to our lovely Miss Wednesday."

The two went to fire the pistol and slingshot that they had trailed on Miss All Sunday, but were knocked off of the balcony by the use of her devil fruit.

"Would you mind not to point such dangerous instruments at me?"

"She's got a devil fruit!"

"That would have been nice to know before, Vivi!"

"Sorry!"

Sanji and Usopp hit the deck with a thud in front of us, landing awkwardly on their sides. Thankful no bones or noses were broken, so I would count that as a win.

"What ability does she have?"

"I'd say she has the _Hana_ _Hana_ _no_ _mi_." I tilted my head to the left. "Would that be correct?"

"You are very well informed, Crow Queen." I felt rather than saw two hands come up around my neck. Thinking quickly I reached up and grabbed them, the seastone in my knuckledusters weakening her grip and subsequently making the extra set of hands to disappear.

"I had a feeling you might try that. Don't do it again, please."

She looked at me for a moment, rubbing her hands together to get the feeling of seastone away from her skin.

"You know, some call you the second coming of the Joker in the East Blue."

I went still, cold fury racing through me. I did not just hear what she just said, what she just called me. I was an information broker, not a _dick_ that paraded around as a freaking _flamingo_ and sat on a throne whilst organising an auction house where people were sold as _objects_.

"Excuse me, but can you please repeat that _Miss_ _All_ _Sunday_? I could have sworn that you compared me to _him_."

"Mister Zero wanted you for your information, but you're a fledgling broker little crow."

"I know that, but since when could I be compared to that monster?"

"Your information. It's very valuable. You know things that you shouldn't, _Crow_ _Queen_ _Ebony_."

"I still shouldn't be compared to _him._ " I muttered under my breath, a little childishly.

"Fufufufu! There's no need to get so riled up." _Says you, you weren't just compared to bloody Donxquiote Doflamingo._ "I haven't received any orders, nor do i have any reasons to fight you all."

In less than a second the infamous straw hat was taken from Luffy's head and placed a top of Miss All Sundays.

"Give me back my hat!" Luffy was angrier than he was earlier, shark teeth on full display for the world to see. "You are trying to pick a fight with us!"

Miss All Sunday completely ignored the ranting teenager below her. "It is most unfortunate that a bunch of rookies are looking after a princess being targeted by the entirety of Baroque Works. And for a lone princess to entrust her life and safety to a bunch of pirates."

"Fufufufu! But the worst part is that your log pose has been set towards Little Garden. Even if I don't leave a single finger on you, you'll probably never reach Alabasta."

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO JUST LAY DOWN AND ROLL OVER! NOW GIVE ME BACK MY HAT!"

"YOU BIG MEANIE!"

"What are you Usopp, five?"

"Well at least I'm not old like you!"

"Don't insult Ebony-chan, you heathen!"

"How old do you think I am, Usopp?"

"Nineteen?"

"I'm turning twenty-one, so you know. I don't think that's particularly old, do you?" I must have been giving off a threatening aura, because Usopp shook his head violently.

She flicked Luffy's hat back onto his head, where he grabbed onto the sides of it protectively as though it were to suddenly disappear.

"Anyone can present a brave front, yet it's difficult to know what might lay ahead." She stated, flicking something towards Vivi.

"An eternal pose?"

"You should be able to skip over any future troubles with that, it points towards an obscure and uninhabited island right before Alabasta." She continued on, a hand under her chin. "The route will take you somewhere that is unknown to Baroque Works, so you should be safe from being pursued there."

"Why would you give this to us?"

"It's most likely a trap." Zoro kept a sharp eye on the woman who had dared to invade their personal space.

"Hmm, I do wonder about that." Miss All Sunday smirked as Vivi struggled to make a decision whether or not to trust the woman who may have personally killed Igaram.

"Enough wasting time!" Luffy had reached over and grabbed the eternal pose in Vivi's hand, crushing it easily.

"Never change, Captain. Never change."

"Why would I change?" He looked so confused that I laughed and he didn't noticed Nami's incoming attack.

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT OR WHAT? SHE CAME ALL THE WAY OUT HERE TO GIVE US A SAFER WAY TO ALABASTA! WHAT IF SHE IS A GOOD GUY!"

Luffy shook his head. "It doesn't matter. No one but us can dare to choose the path of our journey!"

Everyone was speechless for a moment, most being shocked at the moment of maturity coming from the generally childish and jovial Captain.

"I see, how unfortunate."

"Luffy!"

"She blew up Mister Chikuwa so I hate her!"

"Fufufufu!" Miss All Sunday threw back her head and laughed. "I don't dislike bold men, perhaps we will meet again soon. As long as you survive."

Luffy's moment of maturity was gone as he stuck out his tongue at her and pulled down the lower part of his eye.

"Let's go Bunch!" Miss All Sunday dropped down onto the back of a giant turtle, which made its way quickly into the distance.

 

* * *

 

"Dragon-san, do we have any way of getting in contact with the Crow Queen?"

Sabo had made up his mind, he would go to Alabasta and have his reunion with his brothers dammnit and give Black Ebony one of the biggest hugs imaginable. She had given him back a significant portion of life that he had forgotten, significant people that he had forgotten and promised to never do so again. It would probably kill him this time if something happened.

Dragon looked up from the maps that he was examining.

"I gave her one of the informant den den mushi's. You should be able to contact her via that."

"I'll give her a ring then. I need to see Ace and Luffy soon!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few make style stories written that will probably be uploaded instead of the next chapter purely because that is going to take me a lot longer than what I had initially believed it would. (And that probably won't be uploaded until after classes are finished for the semester.)


	8. cerae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[cerae - wax image]_  
> 
> Ebony has a remembering issue and there's an artistic debate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoy this chapter; it's been in the works since my last update.

Once Nico Robin, Miss All Sunday, had left the Gong Merry there was a moment of tense silence. No one moved and the sound of heavy breathing filled the air, waves lapping at the sides of the ship.

Vivi’s knees almost gave out on her and I grabbed her by the waist, her hand coming up to grip my arm.

“Easy there.”

“Thank you.” Her voice was as shaky as her knees, but her grip on my arm was tight. The girl definitely had some strength. “How’s your neck?”

I gave a rough, dry laugh devoid of any humour. “Eh, it’s been better.”

“Yeah! I saw her try to choke you, Ebony!”

“We all did Luffy.” Zoro turned to me, eyes questioning. “You sure you’re okay?”

“A cup of tea with honey and lemon wouldn’t go astray at this point, but honestly guys I’ll be fine. I’ve just got to learn to be more careful.”

“A cup of tea with honey and lemon coming right up! Will Miss Wednesday be joining the crew?” Sanji turned his attention from me, looking hopefully towards Vivi.

“For now at least.”

“WE’VE GOT AN OSTRICH ON THE SHIP!”

“Captain, that is a duck. A very large duck, but definitely not an ostrich.”

Luffy’s head tilted to the side, piercing gaze as if to check that I wasn’t lying previously about not being okay. “A mystery duck?”

“Sure, let's go with that.”

I was suddenly tired, exhausted. Maybe it was the fact that I’d been awake for longer than twenty-four hours? That couldn’t be right, I’d stayed awake for longer and been perfectly functioning (mostly). Maybe it was the momentary chokehold I’d been forced into? That must be it. I’d have a nap after breakfast then, that would probably help.

By this stage, Vivi had been able to right herself enough to look Nami in the eyes, “Are you really okay with me riding on your ship? I’m just putting you all in danger.”

“Puh-lease.” Nami rolled her eyes.  “It’s your fault anyway that they found out about us in the first place! If you didn’t want any trouble you shouldn’t have bothered us in the first place.”

Nami poked Viv in the forehead, in a manner almost reminiscent of Itachi Uchiha.

Wrong anime and manga, Ebony. Wrong one. 

“Sorry.” Vivi ducked her head.

“Right Luffy?”

“BREAKFAST SANJI!”

“Nami, I don’t think the captain really cares.”

“Ruin my fun, why don’t you Ebony.”

“It’s what I’m here for!” I replied back cheerfully, to which she poked her tongue out at me.

“LET’S SET SAIL! SANJI! BREAKFAST!”

“It’s coming Luffy, just wait.” Usopp shouted up towards the pouting captain as Nami and he manoeuvred the ship out onto the open seas.Everything seemed to be in order out on the deck, so I sought out Sanji in the kitchen.

It was like watching a dance, a craftsman creating their art. He didn’t hear me walk into the galley, but I didn’t want to disturb him even though I had come in here to ask if he needed any help. But I couldn’t help it.

“Need any help with anything, Sanji?”

He jumped a little, turning around to face me.

“Sorry for startling you.” I apologised, bowing my head slightly.

“Oh, that’s okay. No thank you, Ebony-chan, I’ve got everything handled.” He rubbed the back of his neck, causing slight scarring to be seen along the edges of his wrists.

My eyes narrowed at the marks, hoping that what I thought had caused them hadn’t actually caused them.

Sanji must have noticed the movement of my eyes towards his wrists and he hastily put his arms down.

“There’s nothing...” His innocent tone couldn’t fool me, nor could his slightly hesitant behaviour as he turned away, his voice trailing off.  He backed up slightly towards the bench where he had been previously preparing the massive breakfast for Luffy. (And the crew, of course.)

“What’s nothing?” I’d moved up beside him and tenderly reached out my hand, close to his own but not enough that I was to invade his personal space.

“Nothing is nothing.” He offered me his wrist, despite his statement. I think that he had come to the conclusion that he could trust me despite his general mistrust of people.

The skin on his wrists were covered with thin scars, running the length of his arms, crisscrossing over and over again. His whole body was probably covered with these scars, how nobody with eyes noticed I didn’t understand. (But with the immaculate way Sanji dressed and presented himself, nobody probably thought to take a second look.)  These were scars caused by a man who was more interested in genetic mutation and building the perfect army than with the well-being and happiness of his family. I was angry. Very very angry.

“Are they dead?” My voice was quiet, steady in my fury.

“No.” Came Sanji’s quiet reply.

“Do you want them to be?” I couldn’t help but wonder if he did. After what Vinsmoke Judge had done to him and his mother, to his  _ siblings _ , it would be well founded.

“Sometimes.” This was even quieter than the previous answer.

I grasped his hand in my own. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“One day.”

“Then I’ll be there.”

We all would be. 

“Are you allergic to anything?”

The conversation was able to flow from there.

I had taken a nap, one that had lasted well into the next day after the others had seen how exhausted I was and the bruises on my neck where beginning to show. We were all out on deck, all of us bar Sanji who was preparing a mid-morning snack. (I’d missed breakfast, but it didn’t bother me too much at this stage, despite Sanji’s many protests.)

“Guys, so you think it will snow more?” Luffy’s wide grin was infectious, I couldn’t help but smile back at him when he turned towards me.

“Why the hell would it snow?”

“Why wouldn’t it, Zoro?” I turned to face him, leaning over the railing. “It’s the Grand Line after all and while I feel that I’m going to be repeating that statement a lot you did sleep through the sudden snowfall the other day.”

“It’s true! So, do you think it will snow again?”

Luffy was practically vibrating in his seat.

“I don’t know why you’re so excited about being cold again.”

I hated being cold; I genuinely despised it. Everything aches and I get grumpy when I was sore.

“It’s not as if it never snows, but the seven magnetic fields stretch that from Reverse Mountain clash in ways that makes everything unpredictable.” Vivi took a look out onto the ocean. “You cannot let your guard down at all, even for a moment. It would be bizarre to encounter the conditions of the first island once you’ve passed it.”

She was emphatic about warning us about the dangers and perils of the Grand Line.

“Here we are Ebony-chan!” Sanji handed me a beautifully made drink, a hot chocolate by the looks of it.

“Mah, mah thank you Sanji!”

Earlier Sanji had made sure to ask about any allergies that I may have had, just so that he knew not to serve me anything that I couldn’t eat; no pineapples for me today or ever.

“Who else wants a special drink?”

There was a unanimous yes from the rest of the crew as Sanji made a show of pretending not to give the guys their drinks causing Luffy and Usopp to pout and Zoro to scowl, Carue looked genuinely confused at the show that they were putting on.

“Are you sure things will be fine with this lot?” Vivi looked nervous, pointing towards the laughing crew.

Nami and I looked at each other, communicating with each other incredibly well for two people who had only known each other for less than three days.

“It'll be okay.”

“Besides, we all work hard enough. None of us particularly want to die.”

Nami nodded at my words.

“Not dying would be good, very good.”

We clinked our drinks together as Vivi cradled hers in her hands. We looked down at the others, all happily talking about making some fishing rods and going fishing, with Usopp extravagant waving his arms about and Luffy concentrated very hard on drinking his drink.

“What is the Captain even doing?”

“It’s Luffy.” That was the only answer Nami gave and it was the only statement that could be given that sum everything up.

“Being on this ship makes you lose the will to worry, doesn’t it?”

Vivi looked out onto the ocean.

“It is quite relaxing.” She admitted, left hand going up to rest on her neck.

“Are you sure about that?” I teased, causing Nami and Vivi to look at me questioningly. “In times like these, then sure it’s relaxing. But the moment that the Captain gets an idea or that look in his eyes I can guarantee everything will descend into chaos.”

“I’ll give cheers for that.” Nami raised her glass, towards mine.

“Look! A dolphin!”

And indeed there was; a beautiful and monstrous in size dolphin leapt from the water and over the ship.

“FUCKING HOLY HECK!” 

“IT’S FREAKING HUGE!”

The captain let out a boisterous laugh, “Let’s run away guys!”

“AYE AYE CAPTAIN!” The resounding cheer from the rest of the crew sounded, with us all rushing to do our jobs.

I managed to make it, after having finished loading cargo into the under bowls of the ship. It was mostly food, lots of fruit that needed to be stored, plus fresh water and a couple of crates of alcohol that I could guarantee would be almost primarily Zoro and Nami’s to use as the others didn’t seem to be fond of alcohol at all, preferring their own indulgences.

I was lost in my own world when I heard the captain shout out about us almost arriving out our next destination, Little Garden as I knew it.

“We should be careful.” Vivi was wringing her hands together nervously, “I didn’t like what Miss All Sunday was saying about this island.”

Usopp was just as nervous. “You don’t think there are monsters here, do you?”

“Usopp, this is the Grand Line,” I stated, turning and facing him. I couldn’t help but think that we were all children here on this ship. We hadn’t truly faced the terrors of this world, not really. “There are more monsters here than anywhere else in this world. Some just wear different masks than others.”

“She’s right.” This came from Sanji who was probably thinking of his own family and how that turned out. Monsters did come from men, in truth. “But we have to stock up on some food pretty soon. Due to the circumstances, I wasn’t able to truly stock up on food like I would have liked.”

“Just look at this place!” The captain was pointing and waving towards the overgrown, dark mess that was Little Garden. It did look like it hadn’t been seen by sentient eyes since the beginning of time, with the overgrowth being larger and more terrifying than most plants and forests that I had seen. 

“I can’t say that I can see anything that would deserve the cute name like that though?” Nami was questioning her senses.

“It’s meant to be ironic, I think.” I scratched behind my head a little, almost nervously. People I could handle, giant animals? Perhaps not as well as what I had probably thought.

“Probably. And I’ve never seen any of these plants in my encyclopedia before.”

_ Yes, that’s because this place has gone back to prehistoric times when dinosaurs ruled the earth. _ I had to stop myself from making Jim Carrey noises.

A loud sound, a screech sounded overhead that had Nami, Usopp, Vivi and Carue panicking. The others and myself jumped at the sudden noise.

“What was that?!”

“Don’t worry Nami-swan! It was just a bird!” The noodle dance had come back into fashion, apparently. “This island isn’t anything but your average jungle after all!”

A singularly large, pterodactyl-like lizard-bird flew overhead. Brightly coloured plumage, with threatening eyes, almost like a vulture surveying over its next meal.

“Does that sound like your average jungle?” Nami was pointing towards Little Garden, shaking legs and a quivering voice.

Usopp screeched next. 

“It sounds like a volcano is erupting or something!”

There was a low rumble, as we passed by a collapsed tiger covered in its own blood. That made my heart hurt; I loved tigers, such beautifully strong and powerful animals.

“That’s not normal. Why would the King of the Jungle be covered in blood?” Vivi let out a wail. “What could do something like that?”

“I don’t much like it either, but many things could do that.”  _ Especially here _ . I wanted to say this aloud but couldn’t bring myself to.

“Right!” Usopp looked at us all, coming to a conclusion that was going to be almost immediately overridden by Luffy’s enthusiasm for adventure. “We are NOT setting foot on this island.”

Nami was nodding frantically along in agreement. “We wait it out on the ship and leave the very moment the log pose resets, okay? We have to make it to Alabasta on time after all.”

That’s when it hit me. I definitely only had until Alabasta; if Sabo didn’t show up,  _ if Ace didn’t kill me _ , if Luffy decided that I was more trouble than I was worth based on the amount of knowledge I held, the secrets and lies I had kept, told.I didn’t want to get to Alabasta quickly, but my own selfish desires and needs did not outweigh what was at stake for Vivi and her country, for Luffy and Ace, for Sabo. 

“Sanji!” The Captain’s voice shocked me out of my musings. “Prepare a lunchbox!”

“A lunchbox, captain?”

“A pirates lunchbox!”

“Does that have any nutritional value in it besides protein, Sanji?” I couldn’t help but ask. 

He laughed. “None at all, Ebony-chan. None at all.”

“Didn’t think so.”

“I smell adventure up ahead!”

* * *

 

After Luffy had set off, along with Vivi who had decided that it wasn’t worth just waiting around on the ship. (Carue faithfully trailing nervously behind her.) I decided to go with Zoro, act as bait while he killed the animals for food. Internally screaming, but making no notion of this on the outside. But we had yet to leave as Sanji and he were having an argument. 

(It took all I had to not just shout at them to just whip them out and compare sizes because clearly, this was just a form of dick measuring contest. Honestly, they were such  _ children _ .)

“FINE!”

Apparently, the argument was almost at its conclusion.

“Whoever brings back the most meat wins!”

“Fine by me,” Sanji straightened his tie. “Though in my case it’ll be tonnes of meat.”

“Boys, really?” 

I was stood in the middle of the two of them, shaking my head disapprovingly. 

“We need the food, does it honestly matter the source of who killed it? Sanji will be the one to cook it regardless, so this arguing is pointless.”

This caused the two of them to stop still. 

“Che, sorry.” “My apologies Ebony-chan.” 

Zoro had to get the last word in, by riling Sanji up.

“Come along then,  _ bait _ .” 

Zoro couldn’t help himself, could he? He knew damn well that anything to do with a woman, especially one of the crew, being in danger would set Sanji off. Sanji was definitely gearing up for a lecture and Zoro had a ridiculously smug look on his face.

“Boys. Just stop.”

* * *

 

“Did you two hear that?”

Sanji looked around and nodded. “It sounded like Nami calling out for me!”

The next moment he was off like a rocket, running back in what he thought was the direction of the ship. 

I couldn’t help but look at Zoro. 

“Is he always like this?” 

I knew that he was but it was different seeing it in person than it was reading it in the manga and watching it in the anime.

“Pretty much.”

We walked in silence for what seemed to be hours, not quite next to each other but close enough that if something happened we could defend and attack in equal measure.  When we stopped walking, we came to find ourselves standing in front a triceratops.

“What the hell? Can you even eat this?”

“Not sure, but it might be best if we found out?”

I played bait, whilst Zoro made short work of the triceratops. I felt a little bad, but in a world where it was definitely survival of the fittest, you had to do what you had to do to survive.

“Do you think to skin it now, or wait until we get onto the ship? I mean we’ll be surrounded by predators regardless, but..”

* * *

 

“You have a point.” He suddenly looked at me, eyes sharp. “I still don’t trust you, not entirely.”

I suppose that was fair. “I don’t expect you to, we’re still pretty much strangers.”

“That, but there’s something off about you.” His red got even more piercing, shivers running down my spine. “Your eyes, they know too much.”

“I won’t deny that,” I thought about it for a moment. “I have secrets, but when the time comes you and Luffy will be the first to know. Only two others know and at the moment I’d like to keep it like that; people like me, we get hunted.  _ Really _ badly hunted if it gets out who and what we are, what we know.”

And it was true. I’d seen news several times in the papers, heard the marines and criminals alike at the bar talking about the public and grizzly executions and tortures of Outliers. I suppose that I was lucky, having foreknowledge of this world before I came into it and with that advantage, I could try and fit in as best as I could to try and avoid detection. Any Outlier found, was to be immediately taken to the Marines and tortured for whatever information they know and then publicly executed as an example.

“I honestly don’t know what they have against people like me but it’s an unfortunate fact.”

Zoro offered out his hand and I took it, shaking it solemnly.

* * *

 

There was a stronger wind than normal; I could only imagine that it was due to Dorry and Brogy fighting. I wonder if there was a way to get a recording of them to show to the guards at Enies Lobby; get them on our side and against the World Government beforehand. (Usopp at this point in time was probably flattering  the giant Brogy with his dreams of becoming a Brave Warrior of the Sea.)

I could feel something following us, or at least someone’s or something’s eyes. It was creepy and felt very threatening.  There was something important here that I was forgetting. I had to mention something to Zoro, who was currently standing in front of the triceratops that he had killed earlier that he had been dragging around. (I hadn’t mentioned it to him earlier, but we were walking in circles. He was even more directionally challenged than the manga had led us all to believe. It was a miracle that he was even alive with how little he could find islands.)

“I can feel it too.”

He reached up behind his head to scratch it as his neck.

“We must be lost,” Placing his hand on a tree wrapped in vines. “I’ve definitely seen this tree before.”

“Zoro, I hate to break it to you, but we’ve been walking in circles.”

He rounded on me.

“Why didn’t you mention that earlier?”

“I was hoping that the eyes following us would get lost.” And it was the only reason. The feeling was persistent and incredibly unnerving. 

“Hey! Nami!” 

Nami, or at least that was who Zoro thought it to be, was leaning up against a tree opposite us.

“This is great! We were wondering about how to get back to the ship.” “What are you doing here?”

We spoke at the same time; Zoro sounded happy to have someone who knew where they were going in the group but I was suspicious. There was something that I was forgetting and it was bugging me, something important that could help us in the future.

“Hey?” Zoro now sounded concerned. I tapped him on the shoulder.

“That doesn’t feel like Nami, Zoro.”

“What do you mean, doesn’t feel like Nami?”

“It just doesn’t feel like her. The aura is  _ off _ .”

We didn’t notice someone sneaking up behind us and then I remembered, Baroque Works was here.

And then it all went  _ black _ .

* * *

 

“What is that?”

I had to shake my head a couple of times to clear the blur. It hit me then and there that we had been knocked out and kidnapped and by the feeling (or lack thereof) in my hands, definitely held captive by wax.

I berated myself internally. I had completely forgotten that Mr. Three was going to be around. 

_ Idiot Ebony! _

“Vivi? Weren’t you with Luffy?”

Nami sounded confused as she sat upright, using her shoulder to help me up at the same time. Zoro, Nami and myself were leaning against each other, slightly out of comfort and slightly out of a need to be mostly upright.

Vivi nodded. 

“That’s right, but…”

“You’re talking about that boy?” Mr. Five’s shoulders shook, as if he were laughing. “I’ve already killed him.”

Nami and Zoro went stiff either side of me.

“You did?” Zoro grimaced, eyes glinting with murder. 

“Highly unlikely.” I couldn’t help but mutter. 

“Welcome to my service set!”

We were suddenly surrounded, hefted up off the ground and carried towards the strange wax sculptural piece. 

“There’s something above our heads.”

“I can hear it too, Nami. There’s something not right about it.”

Zoro couldn’t help but laugh, a self-depreciating sound. “I feel like a candle on a birthday cake.”

Nami on the other hand was panicking. “I can’t move my legs.”

I was taking in deep breaths, trying to hold off a panic attack. My legs were precious to me; I’d been a dancer my whole life and if I couldn’t use my legs then what was the point?

“Ebony?” Vivi’s voice shook me out of my panic for the moment. “Are you okay?”

“No, not really.”

“We’ll be fine. Luffy will get us out of this.”

Zoro hadn’t known him long at this point, none of us had, but the amount of faith that he had in his captain was admirable.

“Oh I know that. I just…” I struggled to find words to describe my situation. “It would be like if Sanji couldn’t use his hands or you could no longer use swords. My legs are precious; I worked too hard.”

Mr. Three was monologuing as I was explaining to the others, thankfully they understood.

“Candle dolls that are filled with real dolls! Just die for the sake of art!”

“You don’t know the meaning of true art!” “Why do I have to die for your work?”

Nami turned to Brogy. “Do something! Otherwise you’ll become a candle too!”

“No matter what you say, it will not work! He was so happy that he cried over his victory!” Mr. Three extended his arms out. “I don’t know if he cried because of his sensitive emotions or because of his friend.” 

Why did villains always monologue so much? At least it was, mostly, distracting me from my panic.

“He fought his best friend for hundreds of years, with his bare hands.” He shook his head. “He’s incredibly stupid! He didn’t realise that his friend was injured when they fought!”

He cackled. “You can’t change a thing now!”

We looked at Brogy, who explained that he knew that his friend was keeping something from him.

“You must be lying! If you knew why did you fight him? There was no mercy from you at all!”

Mr. Three was grinning now, thinking that this was what was going to break the giant.

“You have no concept, no real idea of what this fight means! How can you even begin to understand that was what my tears were for? A person like you wouldn’t understand!” The tears coming from Brogy were large, almost a heavy downpour.

“He fought with pride in his heart! How can I disgrace him? You want me to destroy the pride of the warrior who was prepared to risk his life?”

“I understand that, that’s why I fought him with my hands! Because it’s the best and most righteous thing I can do for my best friend!”

There was a large bang, a bomb had gone off.

“Brogy!” 

“That should shut him up!” Mr. Five was standing, arm extended with his hand pointed towards Brogy. 

I really wanted to shut his smug face up.

* * *

 

There was still no answer. 

Ace had tried ringing Ebony’s Den Den Mushi multiple times, but still had no luck getting through to her. He didn’t want to panic or worry, but if she was with his little brothers crew, he hoped that nothing bad had happened. Although he knew that there were areas where signals for den den mushi calls were difficult. 

His lead towards Alabasta was the first sign that he was getting somewhere. 

He didn’t notice a ship, a singular sailboat following closing behind him. It was being navigated by a certain scarred blonde in tails and a top hat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to start on the next chapter sometime this week, but it's taking me a little longer with work to actually write the amount of words I want up.


	9. defixi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[defixi - bewitch, curse, declare firmly]_  
> 
> There are some new pirate-themed waxwork models for the museum, Sabo thinks on his past and Ace worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took me a lot longer than what I had hoped that it would. I hope that you enjoy it!

****I really wanted to punch all their stupid faces in, especially Mister Three.

“Don’t breathe the mist in!”

Mister Three had, by this point, made his way up towards Nami and had curled a hand around her throat.

“Take your _filthy_ hands off of her!” I couldn’t help but snarl at him, but he only glanced at me and grinned. I could see it in Nami’s eyes, she was absolutely terrified. I was, too but I didn’t have his hand around my throat.

“The looks on your faces are perfect!” He stepped backwards, pointing and smiling. “The emotions of pain and suffering are very good! This will become the perfect piece of art! The torture and sadness!”

“I can’t move my arms!”

“Our bodies are definitely becoming harder,” Zoro shouted towards the downed Giant. “Can you still move? If you can lose your arms and legs, it’s better than dying and not doing anything.”

“I’m going to try and move.”

“Think of it like resistance training, right Zoro?”

He laughed. “Precisely.”

Zoro slowly drew his blade, the wax making it difficult but not as hard as I would have thought. I tested my own arms, lifting them slowly and with difficulty.

“I will cut both my legs off.”

“What the _fuck,_ Zoro?” “Cut off your legs! Are you _kidding_ me? This isn’t the time for a stupid joke!” “What about us? That’s worthless! If you do that, they’ll catch you anyway!”

Zoro looked at the three of us, all staring at him in disbelief. I honestly couldn’t believe that he would be that stupid.

On second thought, yes he could be that stupid. It was Roronoa Zoro, of course, he could be.

Brogy, on the other hand, started to laugh. “You are a brave young man, I was about to give up. Ok. I’ll do it!”

He had said it with such conviction that made me do a double take. How did these people have such bravery, yet such stupidity?

Nami was shouting at Zoro, “Are you kidding? If you lose both of your legs, how can you fight them?”

“Just the heart that never gives up.” Zoro gave her a boyish grin.

“Honestly.” I shook my head; I had genuinely forgotten that in this world people are absolutely insane and somehow I’d become just as insane along with it. “I’ll help. I’m not chopping off my legs, though.”

Nami turned to me, betrayal in her eyes. I’d just become an idiot to her, I could tell.

“What’s wrong with them?” “Have they gone nuts?”

“Wait!” I turned to Vivi, who had just spoken. “I will fight with you, too!”

I nodded towards her, bringing my arms up, reading for a fight. The wax that had settled wasn’t hard enough yet to completely limit my movement, but it was like training with resistance bands or trying to move fast and sharp under water.

“This is crazy!” Nami closed her eyes tightly, bringing her hands up next to her ears.

Zoro had brought his swords down towards his legs, ready to cut them at a moment's notice. “Let’s do this!”

“ **WE’VE COME TO CRUSH YOU!** ”

There was a blur of movement that flew past the gathered members of Baroque Works. I could vaguely work out the shape of a large duck and the straw hat of the Captain; unfortunately, the landing that they had was into a large group of trees and the impact had crushed several bushes and made several of the trees collapse.

Mister Three, who had been preparing to attack stopped in his movement. “What is that?”

I couldn’t help myself, I started to laugh which caused him to turn towards me.

“What are you laughing about, statue?” His eyes had turned sharp, cold.

“Nothing, nothing.” I made sure that my hand movement was as fluid and unhindered as possible, to just show him that I wasn’t being affected by the wax. He kept on staring at me, highly suspicious as to why I wasn’t panicking about turning into a Madame Tussauds model.

“USOPP! DUCK! LET’S TAKE CARE OF THEM!”

“CAPTAIN!” “USOPP!” “LUFFY!” “CARUE!”

* * *

 

“I’ll take care of them,” cracking his knuckles together, Luffy scowled towards the members of Baroque Works. “They’ve destroyed the pride of the battling giants!”

The Baroque Works members looked unimpressed with the Strawhat wearing teenager, who was standing in front of the cracking his knuckles, with Usopp standing beside him with his slingshot out and legs trembling.

“So, you’re the man whose currently worth the most in the East Blue?” Mr Five scoffed, “It seems that the marines are going downhill.”

“I really wouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but then again, go ahead. Be my guest.” I couldn’t help but interject, gaining a rather dirty look from Mr Five.

Luffy, on the other hand, had spotted Mr Three and his rather impressive hairdo. “Your hair looks really stupid!”

“SHUT UP!”

Luffy couldn’t help himself, “His hair is on fire! It’s in the shape of a three on fire!”

“ **JUST SHUT UP!** ” Mr Three had now gained shark teeth in his pursuit of trying to shut our captain up.

“LUFFY,” Nami hurried to get our captains attention back onto his crew. “YOU’VE GOT TO DESTROY THE POLE BEFORE WE BECOME DOLLS!”

“Captain, I really don’t want to be a wax model!” I shouted out towards him.

Luffy looked up as if suddenly noticing that we were actually in trouble. “Eh? So you’re in trouble, too?”

“Yes.”

“No”

Nami and Zoro glared at each other.

“Not really.” Zoro just had to have the last word.

“Freaking hell! Yes, we’re in trouble, Captain!”

Nami looked down at Zoro’s legs, where he was successfully cutting away at them. “That’s a lot of blood, Zoro.”

“Well, I’ve cut off about half of my legs so far.”

“And you say that we’re not in trouble!” Vivi sounded both exasperated and nervous.

“Can you destroy that pole, Luffy? I’ll take care of the rest.”

Luffy grinned up at us. ”Sure!”

Mr Three, having lost his shark teeth gained instead, a rather creepy looking grin.

_“I cannot allow you to do that.”_

 

* * *

 

Sabo was making his way to Alabasta, memories swirling through his mind.

How could he have forgotten his brothers? Ace, grumpy freckled Ace with no manners but who tried so damn hard and could blush like a really red, ripe tomato? Luffy, with his straw hat far too big for his head, stretching way too far for a normal human and a grin that could light up countries? How could he have forgotten them?

He wanted to thank the outlier, Ebony. He also really wanted to pick her brain. What else did she know about this world that she found herself in? He also really wanted to know where his brothers were; he knew of ‘Fire Fist’ as the captain of the Spade Pirates and then as a Whitebeard Pirate, but nothing else. Whatever he knew of his brothers may now be completely different and whatever mourning they had done would be undone by his sudden appearance. Should he even reveal himself to them? Should he even find them?

Sabo gave a self-depreciating chuckle; he couldn’t doubt himself on this. Even if they had moved on, he needed to know them, even if it were to help with his amnesia and to provide some closure for himself.

Perhaps he should give Ebony a call?

 

* * *

“I’ve got no idea what the pole is, but I will destroy it!”

“HURRY UP BEFORE WE BECOME CANDLES!”

“Is there always this must posturing?” I could have sworn that there wasn’t this much in either the anime or the manga. It could be the fact that I was actually there, in the moment and a part of the action, rather than being a third party and watching from the outside.

“I don’t think so?” Vivi must have heard my muttering, as she gave me an answer with a shaky grin.

“Zoro? What are you doing?” Nami levelled a glare at the only male of our current group of wax model wannabes.

“I’m doing a pose, you know, just in case we do become candles.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I hadn’t realised it until now, but I think that I was the sort of person who resorted to humour and outright cackling in moments where I could and probably would definitely die.

“Shut up, Ebony!” Nami turned her ire to me, instead.

“This isn’t the time to start playing around!” Vivi turned to glare heatedly at Zoro. I got the feeling the two of us were now naughty school children, being scolded by their parents.

“Can you do something about your legs? The blood is making me feel pain whenever I look at them.”

Zoro turned and snapped. “Well, don’t look.”

“The idea of cutting your legs off, by the way, was stupid. You won’t be able to escape.”

“It’s not about escape, it’s about being able to fight back.”

“That’s nuts!”

“Shut up!”

“Honestly, such children, arguing at a time like this.”

“ **Shut up, Ebony!** ” The two at that moment were so in sync; right down to almost identical glares coming from the icy blue and hazel coloured eyes.

I turned to Vivi, who was looking at him with a worrying expression on her face. The wax had now made its presence known on her temple. I was now thankful for my hood, although if it got any heavier I would probably end up blind and eventually suffocating before the wax could do anything to me.

The loud proclamation of Mr Three believing that Luffy could not fight shook me out of my heavy thoughts.

“Mr Three, we already killed him.” Mr Five now had his arms outstretched, almost as if he were trying to convince himself that he had, in fact, killed Luffy and that this was some sort of mirage image instead.

“You clearly didn’t kill our Captain, he’s standing right there.” I pointed out dryly but was completely ignored as Mr Three laughed at his fellow Baroque Works member. Miss Goldenweek have me a dirty look, however.

“Look at him! If you didn’t kill him, it means that you suck! He’s standing right in from of us!” Mr Three turned away from Mr Five and settled into an offensive stance. “At least I know that he’s stronger than you. Take care of the other scum.”

Mr Three looked towards the captain. “I’ll make sure that you’re next to become a wax model!”

Somehow amongst the blabbering from the members of Baroque Works, Usopp and Carue had hidden away in the rainforest.

“Luffy! We’ll support you from behind here! Don’t you worry!”

“Eh? What did you say?”

Almost immediately the fight began and Luffy found himself unable to move; his legs became entangled together with wax in the shape of a hammer.

“LUFFY!”

“WHAT’S THAT!”

“YOU ALRIGHT CAPTAIN?”

Luffy seemed to be okay, lying on the ground, legs up in the air admiring the hammer that he had now apparently become.

Mr Three was now crowing at his supposed victory; “You suck! Next, it’ll be your arms! **Candle Lock**!”

Luffy managed to outstretch his arm just in time, wrapping himself around the sword embedded in the downed Giants’ hand.

“Sorry, Mr Giant!”

“ _Huh_?”

The apology was absolutely necessary as Luffy began to unwind, almost as if he were a spinning top. This, unfortunately, made the blade embed itself deeper into the hand of the giant, who cried outings pain.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zoro was shocked, as were all of us.

But there was a method to the Captain’s madness as he slingshotted himself with great force towards the pole keeping us held captive.

“What the…” Mr Three looked as shocked as we were a moment ago, clearly, he had never had someone escape from his candle wax before.

“YES!” Nami was ecstatic. “HE DESTROYED THE POLE!”

“ _Thank fuck._ ” Was all I could say.

The giant candle pole cracked with a loud squelching noise, unloading from where it was perched. Unfortunately, that now meant that it was headed right in our general direction.

Thankfully it bounced, narrowly avoiding crushing us in the process.

“Nothings changed.” Zoro closed his eyes.

“We’re still alive.”

“True.”

“That was close,” Vivi added her opinion to the mix.

“Why didn’t you guys run away?” Luffy looked genuinely confused, tilting his head in a manner that wouldn’t be far removed from a small and adorable puppy.

Nami looked ready to shout, but I stopped her before she could.

“Captain, we’re stuck. We _can’t_ move.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He sounded a little hurt. “You just said to destroy the pole.”

Vivi turned (as best she could) towards Zoro. “Are you seriously sure we can put our trust in him to save our lives?”

“We haven’t got a choice. Besides I can’t move my arms anymore.”

“ _Shit_ , neither can I.”

This seriously sucked.

“I can’t move anymore.”

Mr Three was ecstatic.

“You’ve now become my candles, you absolutely idiots! The closer the candles get, the sooner it will happen!”

“Why didn’t you guys tell me?” Luffy’s eye’s almost bugged out of his head, startling me. I would never be able to get used to the bodily functions of this world, no matter how long I resided here.

“Captain! Destroy the candles!”

“Ok!”

“I won’t let you interfere! **DORU DORU ARTS: MORI!”**

“ **EXPLOSIVE BULLET!** ”

Usopp’s voice came out of nowhere, aiding the Captain in the destruction of the lit candles. Luffy dodged the wax harpoon as Mr Three slapped Mr Five, whom somehow had managed to swallow the bullet that Usopp had just launched.

“Huh, tastes bad. Poor quality gunpowder right there.”

_“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.”_

“This is _bad_ , this is _so damn bad.”_

“Well, I’m lucky I have such a nice pose.”

 _“Really_ Zoro? At a time like this?”

I got the impression that he would have shrugged if his shoulders had allowed him to.

“MR LUFFY PLEASE HURRY UP!” Vivi was now absolutely terrified.

“Vivi, we’ll get out of this. We’re going to be okay.”

I tried my best to reassure her. In reality I was trying to reassure myself; sure I knew from One Piece Canon that the Straw Hat Pirates escaped this and went on to do far more extravagant things (storming Enies Lobby anyone? Not to mention any of the crazy stuff they did in the New World.), but it wasn’t canon as such anymore. I was here and my very presence changed so much stuff. I couldn’t rely on my knowledge of the world anymore, at least not as much as I had been. Anything and everything could change now. And I could only hope that it would change for the better, and not worse.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Luffy was troubled.

He didn’t like seeing his crew, his friends, in danger and the way in which they now stood creepily unmoving, their breathing shallow in the rapidly hardening wax was terrifying him to the core. He wouldn’t show it, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t scared.

“I’ve just got to destroy this pumpkin, right?” He spoke more towards himself rather than anyone else; he thought better when speaking aloud sometimes, but it definitely didn’t help in a fight when his opponent could hear him. 

“ **GOMU GOMU NO BAZOOKA!** ”

“THAT’S NOT GOING TO WORK!”

Luffy didn’t hear the guy with the weird, burning hair’s attack as his fists slammed into the candle in front of him hard.

“Would you stop getting in my way?” He knew that the idiot wouldn’t, but he couldn’t help it. He was getting incredibly frustrated and there wasn’t much time left from what he assumed by the state of his crew.

Zoro was standing tall, sword in hand, arm raised (Luffy privately thought that he looked super cool, even though his legs were all bloodied and wondered why that was). Nami, arms crossed, mouth set in a frown and eyes terrified, Vivi with her hands on her hips and mouth quivering, eyes wide in horror. And Ebony, fists clenched and legs stood in a defensive position with their hood covering their eyes and mouth set in a grimace.

Luffy would get them out of this, he would!

“ **Candle lock!** ”

“Again?” Could’t this guy come up with something better? “Ah! That’s right! Shishsishishishi! I’ve got a hammer now!”

The three guy in front of him looked confused, but Luffy now had a plan.

“ **GOMU GOMU NO OZUCHI!** ”

“Dammit! **CANDLE WALL!”**

The wall held for a moment, but the force that Luffy had put into the hammer cracked the wall and sent Mr Three flying.

“MR THREE!”

“THIS IS CRAZY!”

He loved shocking people, he really did.

 

* * *

 

“Well done, Captain!”

“Great job! Destroy that thing Luffy!”

“No.”

“Shit, this isn’t good.”

“What?”

“Nami, look, he’s trapped.” And look she did,the trap had been laid out and our Captain had walked straight into it.

“We don’t have time, Luffy! Hurry and destroy the stupid pumpkin!”

“I know.”

“Do it then!”

“But I don’t want to do it.”

This arguing was going to go around in circles if I couldn’t nip it in the bud then and there.

“Usopp, Carue, be careful! Watch out for shapes on the ground!” I shouted out, warning our remaining crew members in the area.

Miss Goldenweek looked up at me, glaring. “I’ve just had about enough out of you, Crow Queen.”

Never before had my nom de guerre sounded so wrong; it was as if she had spat the words with venom.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Zoro wondered aloud.

“I have absolutely no fucking clue.”

Mr Five and Miss Valentine were now staring Usopp and Carue down, both of them having taken a clue from my warning and were now looking carefully about where they walked.

“Don’t get involved in this. Your captain has fallen into our trap.”

“That’s right. Take a good hard look under his foot, why don’t you?”

“There’s a strange sign under his foot, just like Ebony said. What’s that?” Usopp adjusted his glasses, zooming them in closer.

“It’s nothing, just a normal sign.” Miss Valentine giggled.

“A normal sign? No way is that a normal sign.”

“IT MEANS GO TO HELL!” And with that, Mr Five and Miss Valentine attacked both Usopp and Carue.

“Let me at them!” I couldn’t help but shout. I was so beyond frustrated at this point; I wasn’t normally a bloodthirsty person but all I wanted to do at this moment was fight some idiots trying to kill my friends and crewmates. Was that too much to ask for?

(Apparently yes, yes it was.)

Nami, on the other hand, was staring hard at Miss Goldenweek.

“You. It must be you.”

Miss Goldenweek stared at the four of us, without saying a word, her silence was enough of a confirmation than if she had shouted it.

“Black is the colour of betrayal; paint someone with it and they’ll ignore anything a friend says to them.”

“If you wish to pursue that line of thought, sure, go ahead,” I muttered. Black wasn’t the colour of betrayal, technically it wasn’t even a colour! It was the absence of light. But if you really wanted to say what black represented a lot of, it was more associated with the unknown, authoritative, powerful emotions.

“So that’s what’s wrong with Luffy.”

“Would he do the opposite if you asked him to I wonder?”

Zoro gave out a hum, “It couldn’t hurt to try I suppose?”

“Oi! Captain! We just want you to continue standing where you’re staining and don’t want you to move away from the sign on the ground at all.”

“We really don’t need your help at all with this,” Vivi added.

I honestly didn’t think that it would do anything at all, but low and behold, Luffy began to move forward. “Why would I want to move at all?”

As soon as he was away from the painted sigil it was as if a cloud had been lifted from him. “What happened to me? Hold on, guys! I’m coming to help you guys now!”

The captain moved forward a moment but suddenly started to laugh.

“What’s wrong now?”

If I could palm my face in frustration, I would have done so. _Seriously? Why?_

“ **Colour Trap!** Yellow is the colour of fun, your captain isn’t going anywhere now.”

“Luffy! Take off your shirt!”

“You’re really interested in getting him out of his clothes, huh?” _SHit_! I honestly couldn’t believe that those words had come out of my mouth.

“EBONY!” Vivi shouted, “NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR SARCASM!”

“Sorry, it slipped out.” “You should be sorry!”

“We haven’t got much time left. This isn’t good.”

Luckily it was Usopp and Carue to the unexpected but nonetheless appreciated, rescue. Slipping past the cackling Luffy and managing to smudge the yellow paint dotted on his shirt. This broke the spell that the Captain was under.

“Damn it! They’re really fast!” Mr Five and Miss Valentine were in hot pursuit behind the wailing duck and sniper duo.

“Usopp and Carue hit the sign! It’s fading!”

“I got caught again.” Luffy was crouched down on the ground, “Ouch.”

“Stop it!”

“Hey, you’re having a good time though, right?”

“Are you crazy or something?”

“Colour trap! Red is the colour of a target.” “ **GOMU GOMU NO BAZOOKA!** ”

Luffy’s arms hit the target Miss Goldenweek had painted on the ground.

“Like a bull, you’ll always target the colour red.”

“Oh come on! This is getting ridiculous!” I couldn’t help but shout.

Nami clearly agreed with me, shouting out, “What are you trying to hit?”

“Mr Three wouldn’t be very happy if you destroyed that pumpkin and I don’t want to make him angry.”

“The Captain isn’t going to be able to do anything with her being in his way.”

In the meantime, Luffy had attempted to hit the pumpkin, only to be thwarted by the red sigil once more and then subsequently being hit by the colour green. Supposedly the colour of peace.

_I’ve always seen it more as the colour of envy, rather than that of peace._

“This tea is really good.” And now the Captain was having a cup of tea with Miss Goldenweek on a picnic rug, seemingly oblivious to the struggles of us in front of him.

Nami and Zoro were now arguing, with Vivi trying to place peacemaker.

This wasn’t going to end well.

 

* * *

 

Ace was getting worried.

He couldn’t get a hold of Ebony, the den-den mushi kept ringing through or just going completely static.

Now, he wouldn’t normally be as worried as he currently was. Ebony could generally take care of herself, but she was now on a crew. A pirate crew that his brother was the captain of and that just added another layer of worry on top of the already growing pile.

He had become fast friends with Ebony, after apparently drunkenly flirting with the bartender with some horrible fire-related puns and pickup lines, who he could tell had a dark secret (possibly one just as dark as his own) and had regaled her with stories of his brother's shenanigans whilst he was growing up. He also knew how much mischief Ebony herself could get into without much prompting was either a recipe for absolute disaster or a sign of an incredible adventure. If there was an option between the two of them, he’d pick that.

Ebony at one point during one of their conversations had casually stated that he had a bit of a brother complex. He honestly couldn’t deny it and had offhandedly mentioned that he had already lost one brother and didn’t want to lose another. Ebony had taken that information in and said that if he ever wanted to talk about it, then she’d be there but they had never brought the topic up again.

Privately, Ace thought that perhaps Sabo had escaped, especially due to the lack of body. He should know, he’d looked and looked for days. But he never mentioned it to Luffy, his hopeful little brother who generally tried to see the best in everything. Ace would never have that luxury, he never had.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I go back to university in less than two weeks, so I'm going to try and get another chapter written. I've got a bunch of outtakes that I'm going to publish, too, so be on the lookout for those. Also, I'm going to try and update this story of ff.net, as the last time I tried I couldn't get a document to save on there so fingers crossed it'll work for me this time around. See you guys next time!


	10. detriumpho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[ detriumpho - triumph over, conquer ]_
> 
>  
> 
> A secret is known and a doctor is needed. _Now_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Usopp could see that Luffy was struggling, trying his hardest to get away from drinking the tea and constantly repeating ‘this tea is delicious’ over and over again. The strain that his muscles seemed to be under was insane. 

The others were now almost fully hardened wax statues, breathing even more shallow than it had been before. They weren’t able to speak so whatever verbal help they would have been able to give to Luffy, Carue and Usopp was now none at all.

Mr Five and Miss Valentine were causing havoc and he couldn’t get near enough Luffy to free him without getting tagged by Miss Goldenweek’s colours himself. He could, however, aim towards Luffy.

“Take this!”

Miss Goldenweek looked scared, but Miss Valentine had no idea what was going on.

“Are you that stupid? That’s your own captain!”

“ **EXPLOSIVE BREATH!** ” The bullet that had been fired by Mr Five suddenly exploded.

 _“Tch,_ forgot to tell you my breath was explosive too.”

Usopp and Carue lay face first on the ground, clothes charred.

“You okay, Carue?”

There was an affirming noise that sounded like a cough coming from the duck.

“Oi, Luffy! You awake yes!”

“Yes! That stupid sign can’t do anything to me now!”

Miss Valentine finally understood what Usopp had actually done. “He aimed at his friend to destroy the colour trap?”

Luffy, now breathing heavily but on his feet.

“I won’t let anyone die! I _t’s payback time!_ ”

 

* * *

 

Sanji wasn’t happy.

He’d been waiting awhile back at the Going Merry and the meeting time that the crew had set had been and past.

“There must be something wrong with Nami-san, Vivi-chan and Ebony-san. I can’t cook this giant lizard yet, then.” He hopped off of the ship, “Better go and find them.”

He made his way back into the depths of the forest covered island, calling the names of the female members of his crew more often than what he called the male members of the crew. Along the way, he managed to corral the help a large sabre-toothed tiger, only with a little persuasion.

“What’s this?” Jumping off of the tiger, which took off back into the wild, Sanji found himself staring at what looked to be a small box house made from dripping and hardened wax. Entering inside, he found the kettle on the stove and some tea sitting on top of a table.

The tea on the table was tempting Sanji to stop and have a break, but he had to shake himself out of it and bring himself back to the present moment.

“No time for a tea break! The girls are waiting for my help. Too bad though, why is this oddly comfortable room unlocked in the middle of this jungle?”

_Purupurupurupurupuru! Purupurupurupurupuru!_

The sound of a den-den sushi wasn’t difficult to mistake and so Sanji picked it up and answered.

“Hello, this is the shitty restaurant, what would you like to order?”

The voice on the other side shouted back, “Stop playing around you idiot! Why haven’t you sent me a report?”

Sanji lounged at the table, getting comfortable and just managed to resist putting his feet up on the table.

“Report? Umm, you are you?”

“It’s me,” said the voice. “Mr Zero.”

Sanji’s blood went _cold._ This was the big boss? They were in serious trouble now.

“It’s already been quite a while since I sent my orders, so what is your status Mr Three?”

Sanji wasn’t quite sure what to say but had realised that the house that he was in currently was the enemy’s hideout and that they were here to hunt the Princess Vivi down.

“What are you being so silent for? I’m asking you a question.” The voice of Mr Zero sounded angry, “Have you eliminated the Princess and the Straw Hat Pirates or not?”

This was his moment, get the rest of Baroque Works off of their backs for a bit before the head honcho realised that they were still alive.

“Yes, I’ve carried out my mission alright. All the people who know of your secret are no more, so there isn’t a need for further pursuit.”

He hoped that that actually worked and held his breath; hopefully, the warlord couldn’t read emotions through the damn snail.

“I see, yes good work. The unluckies are headed your way. Once they confirm your successful mission, they’ll hand you a certain package.”

 _Shit_ , Sanji had forgotten about the unluckies, they would ruin the lie before they had a chance to run.

“A package?”

“That’s right. An eternal pose to Alabasta. Once you’ve received it, head to Alabasta with Miss Goldenweek immediately.” Mr Zero took a breath, “The time has come, we must carry out the crucial step of the plan. Await further details once you arrive at Alabasta.”

Sanji heard a tapping on the windows. The unluckies had arrived.

“What the hell?”

“What’s the matter?” He had forgotten that Mr Zero was still on the line.

“Nothings the mat….” And the unluckies attacked, cutting off Sanji’s answer to the head of Baroque Works.

The vulture dive bombed towards him, Sanji barely managing to get out of the way in time enough to dodge.

“What the hell are they?” Dodging out of the way of the other one, he raised his leg up high and brought it down, causing the floor to dent. “You trying to kill me now? You’ve got some balls you dirty little four-eyed monkey!”

The first unlucky was taken out with a swift kick to the head, whilst the vulture cleverly flew out of the way and managed to take a photo of Sanji while it did so.

“Didn’t I tell you to quit it, _you overgrown chicken?_ ” Sanji twisted and leapt, stomping on top of the vultures head, knocking it out cold.

“What happened?”

Sanji shakily grabbed onto the receiver and started speaking. “It’s really nothing, I had to finish off one of the Straw Hats. Turns out that they weren’t as dead as I thought.”

“One of them was alive?” _Crap._ “Didn’t you say you had completed your mission?”

“Well, I thought that I had but one was hanging on a bit more than I thought.”

“So you lied and gave me a false report when I first spoke to you.”

“I suppose that’s the technical truth, but he is finished off for good. There’s no need to pursue them further.” He waited a moment, “Capiche?”

“Fine,” Mr Zero said with much reluctance. “Just head straight for Alabasta. This will be our final communication, as I cannot risk Marine involvement or interference. From here on, all orders will be delivered in the traditional manner. Godspeed Mr Three.”

And with that Mr Zero, Sir Crocodile hung up. Sanji let out a great sigh of relief, he couldn’t believe that he had just managed to pull that off.

“He hung up. So what the hell were these things? Right, the unluckies.” He stood up and started to walk away when the eternal pose that they had been delivering rolled in his path. “I should take this and give it to Nami-swan!”

 

* * *

 

 

All I could see was black. I couldn’t hear anything other than my heartbeat, drumming faster as I was starting to have a panic attack. This was the worst, I couldn’t do anything, and being trapped in my own mind was probably the worst possible thing for me at the moment, especially in the midst of a panic attack.

In what felt like an eternity, the fight must have been successful as all of a sudden all I could feel was _heat_ and the wax started to melt and melt fast.

“Honestly, that was super hot.” “It’s really hot, didn’t you have a better way to do it Usopp?”

“Nami, Ebony, stop complaining. I just saved your lives.”

“That’s true, thank you Usopp.” I had to thank him, it would feel wrong if I didn’t.

“Thanks.”

“It’s pretty unbelievable that we’re still alive to be perfectly honest.” Vivi was coughing pretty heavily, so I patted on her on the back hoping that it would help.

“You lot are real troublemakers.” Mr Five pointed a gun towards us.

“Take this!” Usopp slingshotted a bullet towards Mr Five, who immediately swallowed it.

_Jackpot._

“I already showed you that gunpowder doesn’t do anything to me!”

“Did you eat it?” Usopp grinned. “That’s not a bullet, nor is it gunpowder. Enjoy the hot sauce alright?”

Mr Five’s face turned bright red and beads of sweat started to drip down from his temples.

“ **ARRGGGGHHHH! HOT! HOT! HOT!** ”

“I know right? I’ve tried it before!” Usopp was so pleased with himself for his ingenuity.

“You stupid pirates! I’ll take you out with me!” Mr Five dove towards Usopp but was intercepted by Zoro and his flaming swords.

“Flame swords aren’t bad.” “Zoro!”

“Being alive is the happiest thing in this world right?”

“I’ll give you that, Zoro.” I gave him a thumbs up, to which he grinned murderously at.

Usopp looked up at the bloodied giant, who was grinning and laughing. “You’re right.”

“Teacher?”

“There are two more enemies?”

Carue and Luffy by this point had taken off after Mr Three, while the rest of us could hear a lot of noise and screaming following. They came back a few moments later, triumphant in their return.

“Not bad for a day’s work, eh Captain?” I was stretching out my legs after they had been cramped up from the wax, any longer in that and not only would I have been dead but my legs in excruciating pain if I hadn’t died by that point.

Broggy let out an earsplitting cry, big fat tears falling and causing us to cover our ears.

“It’s so energetic!”

“More like a waterfall.”

“You can see a rainbow behind him!”

The original three Straw Hats were frowning up at the giant as they spoke.

“My ears…” Vivi clamped down on her ears harder, trying to block out as much noise as she could and failing spectacularly.

“He’s super loud, anyone could hear him.” And someone did.

Dorry had woken up from his forced slumber and now the two giants were hugging each other. Broggy just being happy that his friend hadn’t died.

“Don’t hug him too hard, he’s still injured.” I commented at the same time as Dorry stated: “Not so hard, my wounds…”

 

* * *

 

 

“You little ones helped us out back there,” Nami and I had tried to break the two fighting giants apart in a similar manner to what we did for Sanji and Zoro but it was difficult with the incredible size difference. “If there’s anything we can do to thank you?”

Dorry started to laugh, “I’d completely forgotten that we had bounties on our heads!”

Vivi was downtrodden, “It was originally my fault that those agents came to this island…”

Before she could go any further along that train of thought, I punched her shoulder. “Don’t even think about it, no one is blaming you for anything.”

And as if to prove my point Usopp and Luffy asked her if she wanted to eat anything.

“See?” Nami pointed a thumb at them.

“YEAH! PARTY TIME!”

“PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!”

I wandered over to Zoro, who had been wrapping his ankles up tightly.

“I still can’t believe you tried to cut your feet off.”

“It sounded like a good idea at the time..”

“And now?”

“Eh? I wouldn’t take it back.”

“Didn’t think that you would, you sure that they’re wrapped up tight enough though?”

“They’ll be fine.”

We sat in silence for a moment.

“We’re in trouble if we have to wait a year for the log pose to reset.”

“Exactly!”

“Can you guys do anything about that?” Vivi looked up at the giants, who shook their heads.

“Unfortunately week can’t do anything about that.”

“HELLO! NAMI! VIVI! EBONY! And the rest!” Sanji’s voice came from the forest.

“Now he shows up?”

“He was probably waiting for us back at the ship, I mean we did miss the meetup time., Usopp.”

“Hey! Sanji!” Luffy was waving frantically at his cook.

Sanji looked shocked at the sight of the giants, having never seen one (or two as the case may be) and shouted something about Mr Three.

“How did you know about Mr Three, Sanji?”

He went on to explain that he’d been speaking to the big boss.

“So you told him that we were dead?”

“Yes and he seemed to believe it.”

“That’s a good thing.” I stood up and started to pace. “Now only if we had an eternal pose to get off of this island.”

“You mean this?” Sanj held out an open palm with the eternal pose sitting on it.

“I could _kiss_ you Sanji!” Vivi yelled and jumped at Sanji, hugging the breath out of him.

“I wouldn’t object.” I coughed into my hand, warning him not to try anything. “But I’m glad it makes you happy.” He quickly backtracked, even with hearts in his eyes.

Luffy opened his mouth and I could almost guarantee that he was going to suggest to start partying again, but I put my foot down. “No parties at the moment, Captain.”

He pouted at me, “Not even a little one?”

“Not even a little one, we’ve got to get going, Captain. Nami’s getting antsy and Vivi has to get home.”

He sighed and bargained, “Later then?”

“Later, Captain.”

He cheered and gave me a hug, knocking the air out of me; I managed to catch him and he was gone as soon as he had hugged me chanting party, party, party hurrying back to the ship, shouting his goodbyes to the giants who were grinning wide.

“Moss head, you haven’t forgotten about our hunting contest have you?”

“Not a chance, cook, not a chance. I’m pretty sure I’ve won it.”

Zoro stretched his arms out wide, “I caught a rhino about this big.”

“Can you even eat that thing?”

“We won’t know until you cook it.”

I could tell that the two of them were gearing up to start another argument.

“Honestly, _boys._ ”

“Busy things aren’t you?”

“It’s a shame, but we won’t ask you to stay any longer,” Dorry turned to Vivi and spoke. “I hope that your country is safe, Princess.”

“Thank you.”

The others continued to shout their goodbyes, slowly making their way back to the forest but I stopped behind for a moment.

“Would it be okay if I left behind this den-den mushi? It’d be cool if we could talk throughout our journey.”

The two giants looked at each other, having a silent conversation that I wasn’t privy to.

“We’ll take it! We don’t hear much from the outside world, so it’ll be nice to speak with friends that are out there.” Dorry reached down a hand and I placed the snail into it.

I started to walk away when Broggy called out to me.

“You know that your friends won’t care that you’re an _Outlier.”_

I froze up. _How could they possibly know?_

“Don’t worry, we won’t say anything.”

“How did you know?”

“Your eyes, we had a human friend with eyes just like yours. People from here don’t have eyes like that, so it’s probably a good thing you keep yours mostly covered.”

“My eyes gave me away?”

“That and the way you move. Not many people would notice, but we’re old and have seen a lot.”

“Be safe little Outlier.”

“I’ll try my best, thank you.”

And with those troubling words, I left the two giants behind.

 

* * *

 

 

 **“Boys!** You’re both pretty, now stop arguing and get these onto the ship!”

I had gotten back to the ship to find Sanji and Zoro almost brawling over their kills.

“They’ll be tasty!”

“Luffy, stay out of this!” “Shut it, Ebony!”

“Besides, we can’t carry that much meat, so just pack up what we need and let's get going!”

“As you wish, Nami-swan!”

Gathering as much meat as we needed, and a little extra because we knew the Captain would eat triple the amount (or more) than the rest of us would. Lifting the anchor, we were ready to set sail.

“Heading straight from here, we should be able to exit on the western side of the island.”

Nami was pragmatic about the whole situation. Luffy on the other hand, “Do you think we should have packed more of the meat?”

“Don’t worry Captain, I added a bit more for you.”

“Thank you, Ebony!”

“Not too much though Ebony? We don’t want to sink the ship.”

“No, I didn’t add too much. If he wants more meat though, I can always go with smaller meat portions.”

Sanji looked at me, concerned. “I don’t want you starving yourself, and neither would Luffy.”

“It wouldn’t be starving me, just give me whatever vegetables and sides that the Captain won’t eat and it’ll be good.”

Sanji looked as though he wasn’t going to drop the subject, but thought that it would probably be best picked up at a later time, one when they weren’t trying to get away from the island.

“The Giants have come to see us off!” Luffy pointed towards the two giants, standing guard at the entrance of the waterway.

“There’s a reason why little people very rarely get off of the island.” “And do not reach the next island that lay ahead.”

“What?”

“You all risked your lives so that our prides may remain intact.”

“Thus, in turn, no matter the foe. We will not let your flag of pride be tarnished either.”

_What I wouldn’t have done to have these guys at Pride; they’d be fantastic guards and probably would have joined in the celebrations._

“Trust in us and sail straight ahead. And no matter what, sail straight ahead only.”

“Got it! Sail straight ahead!”

“Let us meet again in the future!” “You have our dial code!”

“Eh?” Luffy turned and looked at me, thinking I had the answer to that last one. I did, but the fact that he was that intuitive about it meant a lot.

“I gave them a den-den mushi so that we can keep in contact.”

“How many of those have you got?”

“I’m not actually sure, to be honest. I’ll have to count them.”

“Look up ahead!”

It looked as if the ocean was rising up to meet us, as a large wave was building and something was threatening to break through the surface of the water.

“The Island Devourer, you’ve come!” “In the name of Elbaf, we view to clear a path!”

The Island Devourer was an incredibly large fish, it’s mouth opening wide as a flood of water went rushing down its throat, sending the Going Merry towards its gullet.

“IS THAT A SEA KING?” “WHAT IS THAT THING?”

“EVERYONE GRAB A HOLD!” We all rushed to grab onto something solid, myself wrapping my arms around the mast.

“USOPP, THE HELM!”

“IS THAT A GIANT GOLDFISH?” He looked puzzled for a moment, “I THINK I’VE HEARD OF A GIANT GOLDFISH BEFORE!”

“USOPP HURRY!” Nami was beginning to get frustrated that Usopp didn’t seem to be listening to her.

“WE’RE STILL GOING STRAIGHT AHEAD, RIGHT LUFFY?”

“OF COURSE!” There was the manic grin on the Captain’s face again.

“LUFFY! This isn’t like with Laboon!”

“I’ll give you the last senbai?”

“I don’t want the last senbai! If we don’t turn around this instant we’re going to…”

Zoro interrupted Nami’s rant, “Nami, just give it up already.”

“Besides, the Captain’s given us an order.”I added, “We should follow it.”

Zoro gave me an approving look, but I knew all too well that he still didn’t properly trust me. I’d tell them about me being an Outlier soon, I mean, it would definitely come out if Sabo met up with us in Alabasta that’s for sure.

“Why?” Nami had tears running down her face as she took the offered senbai from the Captain and sat down, clutching the railing post.

“Luffy, are you sure we can trust those giants?”

“Yup.”

“We’re going to do it. We’re going to sail straight into the mouth of that monster?”

“Well, it’s too late to do anything about it now!”

The most vicious roar I have ever heard startled us all, the mouth closing in on the Going Merry and the world suddenly going darker.

“Straight ahead! Straight ahead! Straight ahead!” Somehow the entire crew was now chanting this as we were now seemingly entirely engulfed.

“Why are we chanting? We’ve already been swallowed!” Nami shouted at us, even as she herself started to chant.

It was a strange little ritual, but it seemed to work as suddenly we could see the sky and the ocean once again. Only we weren’t on top of the ocean, sailing on it, we were in the air flying over it.

“We’re flying!”

_And all without a coup de burst. Franky would have had a field day with a flying ship that needed no flying helpers._

“DON’T TURN BACK! FLY ON STRAIGHT AHEAD!”

Usopp was sniffling, “They cut ocean itself! This power of Elbaf’s warriors is incredible!”

“NOW GO!”

 

* * *

 

 

Once we were in the clear, I headed down into the previously unused office where I began to record the adventure that we had had, keeping note of things that the others had mentioned about the climate and the animals on the island and the battles fought and partially lost to those there. I added the dial code to the den-den mushi installed in the small office, but also to the small list that I had put onto the paper pad beside the transponder snail. I must have been down there a while, as the next thing I heard was Vivi scream.

_How could I forget that Nami would get sick? How could I forget?_

I made it up on the deck just in time to hear Vivi shout about Nami’s fever.

“Alright, everyone out of the way. Let me get her down to a bed.” I marched up to her and gently put my arms under her and lifted her slowly. She was incredibly hot, sweat covering her entire body and soaking through her clothing.

“I can take her if you want?” That had come from Luffy.

“Thank you, Captain, but I’ve got her.” She was light, and it honestly didn’t take much effort for me to lift her and take her down the stairs.

“Sanji, be a dear and dampen a face towel for me?” Sanji did as he was asked, cigarette still in his mouth but with tears running down his face and a snotty nose to match.

With the help of Vivi, we managed to tuck Nami under the sheets of her bed. Sanji hurried back, handing the dampened face towel to me so that I could place it on her forehead.

“Iz Nabi gonna die?” He sniffed some more, “Iz she Bbony, Bibi?”

“Calm down, Sanji. She’s going to be fine.”

“It has to be from the sudden change in climate,” Vivi was theorising. “It’s the only obstacle that everyone must face. It doesn’t matter how famous or strong of a person you are, helplessly dying at the hands of illnesses is common on the grand line.”

That set Sanji off, crying and wailing.

“Really, Vivi?”

She shrugged.

“Even ignoring the slightest of symptoms could lead to death.”

There was a silence around the room.

“Is there anyone on the ship that has medical knowledge?”

Almost immediately Usopp and Luffy pointed towards Nami.

“I know basic stuff.”

“That helps, at least a little.”

“Will meat help?” Luffy really wanted to help out.

“Unfortunately not, but meals easy for a sick person to digest would probably help a lot.”

“I’ll get right on it, Ebony!” Sanji turned to the two other males in the room, “Besides, the effort I put into preparing food for the girls is one hundred times more than the rest of you. You guys get the scraps, whilst the freshest meat and vegetables are used to cook them a perfectly balanced meal.”

 **“WHAT?”**

“Sanji, really?”

He turned to me, hearts in his eyes, “Of course!”

“It still tastes great no matter what!” Luffy was just happy that he had such a great cook on board.

“No matter, as long as I am the chef on board this ship, there will be no need to worry about anything related to malnutrition.” He took a deep breath, “If someone is sick then it’s because of a different illness and unless I know exactly what that illness is, I haven’t a clue of what sort of meal to prepare.”

“So she can’t just eat anything?”

“Not having enough energy to even eat is what we call being sick in the first place, idiot Captain.”

“Vivi! Her fever has risen again!”

“It’s going to take more than a week to get to Alabasta, especially with Nami being so ill.”

“There are doctors in Alabasta, right?” Usopp was pacing, folding and unfolding his arms as he did so.

“Her fever is at fourty degrees.”

“That almost never happens!”

“Is being sick really that painful?” Luffy looked confused.

“Can’t say.” “I’ve never been sick before.”

“Are you people even human?” And the shark teeth were back as Vivi shouted at the others.

“Being sick is awful, Captain. It’s painful for the most part and sometimes, especially in the Nami’s case if your body temperature is too high her life is at a serious risk.”

“NO!” The Captain’s confused expression turned into one of panic, as did both Usopp’s and Sanji’s.

“It’s best if we keep an eye on her, we don’t want the fever getting any worse than what it already is.” I took a deep breath,“Also, if this was due to the rapid climate change, then it would have affected more than just Nami.”

There was a momentary silence throughout the room, the only sound being the laboured breathing of our sick friend.

“Maybe she was stung or bitten by something? I mean, there were animals on that haven’t been seen in centuries, so there’s probably plants or insects that could cause rapid illness?”

Vivi nodded in agreement, “We have to find her a doctor and quickly.”

“WILL SHE DIE?” “PREEZE DUN DIE DABI!!!” (Sanji was really harshly crying by this point.)

“CALM DOWN!” Vivi shouted, arms out in a calming manner. “We don’t want to aggravate her condition any further.”

Nami started shifting in the bed, “No…”

“She got better!” Luffy started to cheer.

Usopp hit the captain on the head with the back of his hand, “No she didn’t!”

Nami was trying to push herself up and off the bed, but I gently pushed her into a sitting position. “Take it easy, yeah? We don’t want you to get any sicker, okay?”

She nodded and turned to Vivi, “There’s a newspaper on top of my desk that you should look at.”

Vivi made her way over to Nami’s desk, whilst I reapplied the damp towel to Nami’s forehead.

“Keep it on there, okay? At least for the moment. It should take a bit of the discomfort away, at least that’s what I’m hoping.”

“What?” Vivi collapsed against the desk, her whole body shaking.

“Is it about Alabasta?” “What is it?”

“Three hundred thousand soldiers of the Royal Army defected to the side of the Rebels. No, that can’t be!” Vivi shook her head, “The Royal Army was originally six hundred thousand strong and could contain the rebels who were only four hundred thousand strong, but the situation has completely swapped!”

Nami sighed, “That paper was from three days ago. I’m really sorry for not showing it to you until now, but I didn’t want you to worry anymore than what you were. We’re already sailing as fast as we can.”

She turned to the Captain, “Understand Luffy?”

“It sounds like an emergency.”

“That’s right, I’m surprised that I didn’t have to explain it anymore.”

“Nami, the Captain is a lot smarter than what a majority of people give him credit for.”

Nami laughed, as did the others as if I had just told a joke.

“I’m serious, guys.”

“At least one of you believes in me!” Luffy crossed his arms and pouted, but there was mirth shining in his eyes. He definitely appreciated the comment, and it had lifted the dour mood that the room was in.

Usopp brought us back to the topic of the conversation, “If we don’t get you to a doctor soon, Nami…”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s certainly not fine!” I was completely ignored.

“That thermometer is broken anyway, no way would a person have a fourty degree fever.”

 _Considering the ship was pretty much brand new, as was ninety per cent of the equipment on board, that thermometer was definitely not broken._ (But I wasn’t going to bring that up right at that moment, Nami was on a role.)

“I’m sure it’s heatstroke or something similar,” She started to climb out of the bed. “I’ll get better on my own without a doctor.”

Nami shakily walked over to the doorway, “In any case, we’ll continue on our way to Alabasta as planned. But, thank you for worrying about me.”

She walked out of the room, with myself following along behind her.

“You do know that your fever is far more serious than what you just let on to the others.”

“I know, but Vivi needs to get home.”

“You’re important, too. We would quite literally be lost if something happened to you.”

“I know.”

 

* * *

 

 

Whose bright idea was it to leave Zoro alone on the lookout with his sense of direction? Clearly, Nami thought the same, as she berated him for not looking at the log pose and for the simple fact the clouds do and will move and change shape.

“Uh, my head hurts.”

“Lean on me, okay?” And she did so, shaking.

“Nami! That’s why I said to take a rest while I took care of things!”

“How can you take care of things when you can’t even take care of the directions!”Nami looked up at the sky, “Somethings changed in the atmosphere.”

“Huh?” Zoro tilted his head to the side. “The weather has been clear all day.”

“Would you please just get everyone up here?”

He nodded and shouted downwards, “Okay! Everyone out, we’ve got work to do!”

“Take the helm, and steer for the south!”

Sanji poked his tongue out at Zoro, “I don’t feel like taking orders from you.”

“Shut up, cook and do it!” Sanji begrudgingly got up and did as he was bid.

“Lower the sails so we can catch wind from Portside.”

“On it!” Usopp saluted.

“The seas are calm and the weather looks clear to me,” Sanji yelled up at Nami.

“Wind, I’ve got a feeling that the wind is going to get stronger coming from up ahead.” She faulted and keeled forward a little.

“Whoa, take it easy.” I put my arm around her shoulders and lowered us both to sit on the stairs, leaning against the railing.

The Captain had come up to us and placed a hand on Nami’s forehead and immediately took it away, shaking it as if it had caught fire.

“Ouch! You’re too hot! We really need to land and get you to a doctor!”

“That’s my normal temperature!” Nami tried to lie her way out of it. “Stop wasting time and get the ropes!”

“It’s really not, Nami.”

She pushed me away, or at least tried to, and stood up. Her strength was sapped, but I let my arm rest around her shoulders; she didn’t push me away this time.

“Nami. I know this is for Vivi’s are, but don’t push yourself too much.” Sanji spoke to her gently.

“I told you I’m fine!”

Even Usopp tried to get her to relax, but she just shouted at him to turn the ship around.

For a few minutes, nobody spoke as everyone rushed around, trying to turn the ship around as I centred Nami and checked her temperature again.

 _Damn_. _We have got to get her to a doctor, her fever is far too high._

Vivi, amongst the rush had come up to stand on deck.

“I have a request of you all. I know that it isn’t my place to demand such a thing, considering you have been kind enough to allow me onto your boat and all, but with the emerging crisis in my homeland, I do want to get there as soon as possible.” She took a deep breath in, and seemed to wrestle with herself before speaking again. “Not a single moment can be spared, that’s why I am asking if the ship can head to Alabasta at the fastest possible speed.”

The silence on board was deafening.

I don’t remember this happening, but then again my memories of the early manga was limited as I got far more into it the longer it went on and rarely went back to the start again to read it through.

“Of course!” Nami smiled, “That was the plan.”

Vivi was still frowning, as was everyone else on the Going Merry. “Thus we need to find an island with a doctor. Immediately.”

The mood on board suddenly went up, even though Nami seemed confused.

“We have to see that Nami gets better as soon and as fast as possible, then we had for Alabasta. That’s the only way we will sail there the fastest, right?”

Luffy let out a laugh. “You bet! Can’t go any faster than that!”

“Are you sure? A million lives of your own people, aren’t you worried your Highness?” Usopp was happy for sure that they would be able to get Nami to a doctor, but was puzzled at Vivi’s selflessness.

“Exactly! That’s why we need to find a doctor for Nami as quickly as possible!”

“Well said, Vivi!”“I like your guts!”

The cook and the swordsman were grinning up at the Princess, proud.

“I’m sorry for making you worry, Nami, but don’t overexert yourself!”

“Thank you, your highness.” I was incredibly grateful, as was everyone else at her decision.

“WHAT IS THAT?” Luffy’s sudden shout caught everyone’s attention, as a sudden cyclone appeared in the direction that we had been headed in.

“It’s huge!” “Look at that cyclone!”

“Nami, hang in there!” She lurched forward, even with my arms around her and Vivi lunged to catch her. Between the two of us we managed to get her upright.

“We were headed that way just moments ago! We would have crashed right into it!”

“Talk about a close call!”

“Your abilities are incredible, Nami.” “I’ve never seen such a navigator…”

“Alright! Everyone, let’s head south to find a doctor!”

“RIGHT!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written incredibly quickly. I don't know how I managed it, but over five thousand words were written in less than a day. I've got a week or so left before classes start up again, which means that I'll be in the last semester of my degree! It's both incredibly exciting and really nerve-wracking. 
> 
> Also, the next chapter has already been written up and edited, but that won't be posted until either my second or third week back at university. I'm hoping that giving myself a few weeks to write the next chapter will help give this story a bit more consistency in uploading. (Fingers crossed that this works.)


	11. ninxi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[ ninxi - snow ]_  
>  A run in with an exile and a survivor made known.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy!

Thatch had managed to pull through.

It had been touch and go for quite a while, but his condition had levelled out and he wasn’t critical any longer. Of course, that could change quite quickly but for now, he was safe and in the clear.

“That was _far_ too close, but he should be okay in the long run. Now all he needs is rest.” The doctor thought for a moment, “And _quiet_.”

The doctor then removed himself from the room, probably to go and check on their father, leaving Marco, Izo and Jozu. The other division commanders were helping to keep the ship running in the absence of Ace and Thatch.

“Why?”

Jozu was not normally quiet, but he didn’t want to wake their brother from his much needed rest. (That and the doctor’s orders. It wasn’t safe to ignore a doctor’s order, especially a Pirate doctor’s orders.)

“He wanted the devil fruit, so he took it.”

Marco replied, flatly.

“But that specific devil fruit? What do we actually know about it?”

Izo looked as if he were to tear his hair out in frustration.

“Not much, only that it’s considered to be an evil devil fruit.”

“Evil? How so?”

“Something about being able to nullify others?”

Marco only realised what he had said until he had said it.

“No.”

They had sent Ace after Teach. _Alone_.

“Damn it!”

Even if he were to get into contact with his friend, there was no guarantee that she would have any information that would help in aid of capturing or defeating the traitor who now held the powers of the Yami Yami no Mi.

“We have to send someone after him!” Izo and Jozu had clearly caught onto his train of thought.

“We’ll send someone after him as soon as he gets into contact with us. It shouldn’t be too far away.” But that still didn’t comfort anyone in the room, and it most certainly wouldn’t comfort their father, Edward Newgate.

“Teach was always strange, you know?” Jozu spoke. “He just kind of appeared out of nowhere and asked to join the crew.”

“That’s normally what a lot of people do, Jozu, that’s nothing unusual.”

Izo replied.

“Yes, but not everyone can immediately wound a former member of the Roger Pirates.”

Jozu had made a good point, Shanks even as a cabin boy wasn’t exactly a pushover and by the point Marshall D. Teach had joined up with the Whitebeard Pirates,the Roger Pirate’s had been disbanded for two or so years. He hadn’t been a cabin brat at that stage and had begun to gather his own crew of formidable fighters. So how had a rookie, no name come out of nowhere and injured the heir to the empty throne at the time?

“Fuck, how? Why did that not register?” Marco stood up, almost shouting.

“Because he kept to himself for ages after he’d had joined, and was always so quiet.Even in fights, he would stay towards the back.”

A quiet cough interrupted their musings, as Thatch slowly sat up.

“ _Hey brothers!_  What have I missed?”

“ **Thatch**!”

 

* * *

  

We had been sailing off course from Alabasta for almost an entire day now, and it was getting progressively colder and colder the closer we drifted towards Drum Island and towards a doctor that would be able to save Nami’s life. Vivi and Carue were spending the majority of her time with Nami, with myself popping in and out to make sure that Nami’s health didn’t get any worse than what it had already been. The Princess had been swapping between worrying over Nami and worrying over the now half crumpled newspaper; her people were in a lot of trouble, but the life of one of her crewmates was in serious danger. Sanji had been flitting about between the kitchen, checking on Nami and making sure that she was doing okay. He was acting as if he were a very attentive and possessive male hummingbird.

Usopp was actually navigating the ship whilst Nami was technically out of commission, with Luffy and Zoro were on lookout. So far the arrangement had worked out well, but there was an ominous feeling about the ship that something was going to happen, and I definitely wasn’t thinking about Wapol and his unfortunate capabilities of eating ships and crewmates.

We were all worried about Nami.

“Is there anything you can do at all to help her?”

The Captain was incredibly anxious about the navigators health, which wasn’t a huge surprise considering he had never been sick.

“Unfortunately not, Captain. We’ve already done everything that we can at the moment.”

He frowned at my answer, “The only thing we can really do at the moment is keep her comfortable and try and keep her temperature down.”

The Captain just stared at me for a moment, as though piercing my soul. It made me a little uncomfortable, having never been subjected to his weighty gaze. It felt like a judging. He suddenly smiled, “She’s going to be fine! You and Vivi have been taking really good care of her until we can reach a doctor!”

I could feel my cheeks heating up, “Thanks Captain.”

He gave his signature laugh and bounded off, presumably to annoy Usopp.

“Not bad.” Zoro spoke up from beside me, his green hair covered in snow, making him look almost like a Northern Christmas Tree. He shoved a pointed finger into my face, “Still don’t entirely trust you.”

“That’s fair. I don’t expect you to.”

I must have made progress then; he trusted me, if only a little, but that was better than nothing.

He looked through the binoculars once again, and let out a strange noise.

“Do you think that a person could stand on top of an ocean?” He lowered the binoculars, giving those up on deck a questioning stare.

“Depends, if it was frozen possibly. I wouldn’t trust someone who could stand on water, though. Not out here on the Grand Line.” Then I muttered, not realising that Zoro could hear me, “This isn’t _Naruto_ , though. People can’t do that!”

“Wouldn’t trust them?” Zoro pointed towards the oddly clothed man, checkered and an almost abstract painted mouth, standing on top of a seemingly frozen patch of the ocean.

I shook my head.

My memories weren’t perfect, especially of the events before Drum Island as it had been many years, even before arriving in this world, since I had read or watched the arc, but I knew that something not-so-great was going to happen.

Usopp and Luffy had made there way down to stand close to Zoro and myself by this point, both with confused looks on their faces.

The man on the ocean suddenly spoke.

“It’s quite cold today, isn’t it?”

I grabbed a hold of Zoro’s wrist in warning. He looked towards me and I pointed out the water below the man. It was still rippling and you could vaguely make out wooden boards underneath him. Luffy had also noticed my actions, and tensed himself up, readying for a fight; Usopp wasn’t entirely obvious to our movements, taking a few steps back, away from the ledge.

“It is.” “It’s freezing.”

The strangers head tilted to the side, his mouth twitching up in an almost satisfied smirk. “Is that so.”

There was silence for a moment, the four of us taking a few more steps back, trying to be as subtle as possible and not really succeeding as the stranger’s smirk became stronger. A sudden break of the water underneath the smirking man had us all flying backwards, as an incredibly large ship made it’s way through the water; the ocean was sent rushing towards the Going Merry, splashing onto the deck.

“What’s that?” Luffy had to grab onto both the ship and his hat to make sure that he nor his hat went flying. “A _watermelon_?”

“Don’t think so, Captain!” I replied from where I was lying underneath the main mast. _Where did Luffy get that from? How did that resemble a watermelon in any way, shape or form?_

“Is that **thing** a ship?” Zoro’s face was a shocked as I had ever seen it, eyes wide.

A loud cackling laughter could be heard, coming from the large ship that now floated in front of us.

“ARE YOU **SURPRISED**? HAS MY SUBMERSIBLE AMBUSH-SHIP, THE TIN CAN KING, LEFT YOU **SPEECHLESS**?” The voice was obnoxious, condescending.

“Crap! A pirate ship!” Usopp’s face screwed up in fear and irritation, something that I hadn’t thought possible to combine the two emotions.

Luffy was amazed at the sheer size of the ship in front of us.

“Why now of all times?” Zoro frowned.

“Murphy’s Law.” I dryly stated back.

“Who is Murphy and why do we have to follow his laws?” Luffy asked, still in awe at the ambush ship.

“It means that anything that **can** go wrong, **will** go wrong Captain.”

“Oh, _okay_!”

There was the sound of running footsteps, from both below and above us. We were being boarded.

“What’s going on up here?” Sanji had appeared, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it, taking in the amount of enemy pirates that had surrounded us on all sides.

“We were ambushed.” Luffy replied back, staring almost calmly back at his cook.

Sanji returned the stare, just as dryly back at his Captain, “I gathered that.”

Luffy turned back towards the large man walking in his direction. “ _We’re_ in a hurry, you know.”

I was suddenly pushed forward, a gun pointed towards my temple making its presence known. Sanji didn’t like this one bit, having noticed it first.

“Don’t you _dare_ threaten her!”

The man in front of Luffy paid us no mind, calmly counting out loud the amount of people on board the Going Merry.

“ _Five_ _people_? A ship this size, there has to be more people.” He heaved a sigh, shoving a half eaten sword into his mouth and taking a large bite, cleanly snapping it in two. “No matter, let me ask you something...”

The Captain wasn’t listening, having seen the clean bite. “He just ate that whole sword!”

“That hurts just looking at it!” Usopp looked disgusted and Zoro wasn’t far behind him, his respect for the sword running deep within his blood.

Sanji, on the other hand, was fussing over my current predicament, muttering threats under his breath whilst simultaneously shooting me comforting looks.

I had to admit that having a gun almost pressed to my temple wasn’t exactly giving me ‘ _the time of my life_ ’ vibes, but I could quite honestly say that it wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened. Fights and brawls were common at the bar back in Loguetown, and females are (seemingly) a lot easier to threaten than males. Something that the rogues and criminals of Loguetown had found didn’t quite work out well on me, not any of the other women from the bar.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t callously point that gun in my face, thank you.”

“Sorry, _sweetheart_ , but we can’t have that.” The stupid smug grin on the mans face did little to dissuade Sanji from wanting to stamp on it, if the look on his face was anything to go by.

“We wish to head to Drum Kingdom, do you happen to have a log pose, or even an eternal log pose aboard this ship?”

“ **No** , and we’ve never even heard of Drum Island.”

Well, the others hadn’t, but I certainly had.

“If you’re done asking, we need to hurry up.” Luffy crossed his arms and glared, almost pouting at the intruder. “ **Go** **away**.”

The man laughed again, “Theres no need to rush through life like that. Well if you don’t have it, then I’ll take whatever treasures you have onboard instead.”

“What!” The Captain wasn’t happy, not at all.

“I’m feeling peckish first.” The man promptly took a large bite out of the side of the ship.

 _That had to have hurt._ The poor Going Merry was certainly taking a beating at the moment, no wonder the little sheep didn’t make it further in the Grand Line than what she had. _But she was strong, the heavy weight of her crews dreams onboard pushing her further and further than a caravel would_. As soon as I had those thoughts, I heard a childlike giggle.

_Outlier! Crown Queen Ebony! Our Chronicler!_

I jumped, not expecting the young voice that nobody else seemed to be able to hear.

The klabautermann had awakened already, sooner than I had ever expected.

_I know the things that all my crew knows, don’t worry Ebony, everything will be fine!_

And now I was being comforted by our ship, who knew she was going to die. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t because then the crew would wonder what was wrong and I had to stay strong, especially in the moment.

“WHAT THE **HELL** IS WRONG WITH THIS PERSON?” “ **WHAT**?”

Continuing to snack on the Going Merry, he completely ignored the Captain shouting at him to stop eating the ship, having chowed down on the anchor and the rope attached to it.

“ **DON’T EAT OUR SHIP!** ” The Captain was now furious with indignation, as one of the intruders lackeys shouted at him.

“Don’t you dare move! His Highness is in the middle of a meal!”

“Well _His_ _Highness_ needs to learn proper guest etiquette!” I shouted towards the man; this promptly caused three things to happen. One, the gun pointed towards my temple was a pressed right against my forehead, leaving me to feel the cold still against my skin. Two, Luffy to punch the speaker in the head and thirdly for me to swing my arm up and grip a hold of the gun, ripping it out of the mans grip and throwing it overboard.

“THEY’RE RESISTING! **FIRE**! **FIRE**!”

“ _Finally_!”Sanji’s grin was boyish and jovial.

“We should have done this sooner!” Zoro’s however, was bestial and with a hint of bloodlust.

“Well, we were technically waiting for the Captain’s orders.” I also couldn’t help but grin; I wasn’t a fighter by nature, more of a pacifist than anything, but the thrill of a spar was pretty fun.

“ _Can’t we just talk about this?_ ” Usopp wailed, having not moved from his spot, where he was half laying on the deck and half against the mast.

The resulting chaos left the intruders, bar their captain, lying in heaps on the decks of the Going Merry and our Captain’s head being eaten by the royal idiot Wapol.

“A tough one to chew, aren’t you?”

“ **GET OFF OF MY SHIP!** ”

Luffy had flung his arms out as far as they would go and held taut before letting them loose. Wapol was sent flying off of the ship and up into the air, Team Rocket style complete with air sparkles.

 

* * *

 

 

“You should be resting!”

Izo had to gently push his brother back down onto his bed, “ _Don’t_ get up just yet, give yourself some time!”

Jozu had run off to tell Pops the news that his son had survived and was now awake. Izo was fussing around him, with Marco sitting down, staring at his hands, deep in thought.

“I’m alive, aren’t I?” Thatch had allowed Izo to push him down, but he arranged himself with some difficulty to lay so that he was facing his brothers rather than the ceiling of the infirmary.

“You almost _weren’t_.” Their eldest brother never cried, but you could tell that he wanted to. Marco took a shuddering breath in and out, “If Ace hadn’t remembered his friends warning, you wouldn’t be alive right now. We would have been _too_ late.”

Thatch thought about it, Teach had looked at the fruit with undisguised awe and hunger and looked upon Thatch in jealousy. Everyone knew that on the Moby Dick, if you found a devil fruit then you were the only one allowed to eat it (unless you gave it away). If Teach had eaten it, without almost fatally wounding Thatch, he would have been punished; but he had almost killed him for the damn fruit, Marshall D. Teach had signed his own death warrant with that.

“Where is Ace? I would have thought he’d be by my deathbed.” Thatch laughed then winced, his usual humour wouldn’t be appreciated at this point in time. “ _Sorry_.”

Marco waved him off, whilst Izo answered.

“Ace has gone after him.”

Thatch could feel his chest tighten and his fists clench. Ace was their youngest brother, despite being one of the strongest amongst them. He knew that Ace may have a chance against the traitor, but as it were now, presuming that Teach had eaten the damn fruit, whatever advantage Ace had had was now lost.

“ _Alone_?”

“Unfortunately, we’re going to send someone else after him when he gets in contact with his friend and sets up a meeting.”

“His friend, huh?” Thatch and the others had been regaled with tales and stories about Ace’s younger brother, Luffy and the occasional tale of Sabo (when he was sufficiently plastered, at least, no one mentioned it to him afterwards incase his temper got the better of him). As well as stories about a friend that he had met in Loguetown, who he seemed to have a gaping soft spot for but wouldn’t ever mention. There were a lot more mentions of the friend than what Ace thought; never as many as Luffy, though. (The man had a brother complex and it was apparently justified; Monkey D. Luffy was a walking trouble magnet who could find himself in the strangest of circumstances.)

“The same friend that he talks about with glowing ears?”

Marco and Izo grinned, glad that they weren’t the only ones who noticed that about the flame user.

“The very same.” “Yes.”

“ _Good_ ,” Thatch grinned at his brothers. “ _Very_ _good_.”

 

* * *

 

 

The sun had gone down, and without Nami’s expert navigation it would have been impossible for us to continue on through the night. Thankfully we had multiple anchors, so dropping one of the spares after Wapol had eaten the original wasn’t so much of an issue.

We’d agreed that in spite of the sudden ambush, that it would be best, at least for that time, to have two people on look out. Sanji was rostered on originally anyway, so that only left one of us.

“I’ll do it.” I raised my hand, in between eating the food that Sanji had made, “I can also keep on eye on Nami, too if that helps?”

“I can do that, Ebony-san.” Vivi spoke up.

“Are you sure? If you want to sleep though, let me know. You have plenty on your mind, you need to rest, too.”

She nodded in reply, “The same to you, as well.”

“That all sounds good, Ebony!” Luffy was having the time of his life, pulling meat directly off of the bone with his teeth, one cooked leg in one hand and another in the other hand. It was almost like a tennis match, watching him bounce between the two of them.

We ate in silence for a bit longer, before finishing our meals. I went to relieve Zoro from his position on watch, whilst Sanji lay out the meal for him and the others went off to bed.

I couldn’t help but wonder if there as something else that I was missing. I had written out the plot, as I could remember it, in a locked journal that was tucked safely away, but the human mind wasn’t perfect and memories couldn’t always be trusted. I knew the bigger plot points off by heart, but the little blips along the way didn’t always register until after they had happened (case in point, Baroque Works on Little Garden and the ambush by Wapol).

By the time that Sanji had finished cleaning up in the kitchen, it was well on it’s way to being completely dark.

“It’s a bit chilly, isn’t it?”

“Yep, it’s definitely cold.” Sanji came up beside me, resting his arms against the ledge and placing his head on his hands, looking forward. “Its going to be a full moon soon by the looks of it.”

“You know, there’s a sort of legend from back home about full moons.”

I was feeling nostalgic, but I missed home and it was in the quiet moments like this that made it even harder.

Sanji turned to me, taking a drag from his cigarette. “Yeah?”

“There’s a myth that people go mad during the full moon, it’s where the word _lunacy_ comes from. Because of _Luna_ , the moon.” I smiled, “It’s funny, when I was a kid there was a playground that all these kids would go to and one night there happened to be a night market on and all these children, including myself that decided it would be a fantastic idea to live up to the madness rumour and act like wild children, howling at the moon. Our parents weren’t happy, that’s for sure.”

He laughed. “I cannot see you acting like that, Ebony-san.”

“Just Ebony, Sanji.” He pouted but knew that I wouldn’t let up until he called me by my name. His weird chivalry thing wasn’t as bad around me, I had noticed, which was a good thing. “And yeah, I was a pretty rambunctious child; I’m not sure how my parents put up with me, to be honest.”

“Zeff used to have to chase away pirates and criminals who thought that they would be able to kidnap the supposedly sheltered kitchen kid. He’d use them as training tools for me actually.”

“How’d that work out?”

The conversation went on from there until Luffy and Zoro came up to take over the watch.

 

* * *

 

 

When the morning came, Usopp had convinced Carue to become his pack mule, carrying planks of wood to fix Merry up.

“What was that guy on about anyway? I’ve never heard of a pirate called Wapol! He had a ship that no normal pirate would be able to afford!”

“They did call him Highness, so he’s probably a royal in exile or something.” I offhandedly mentioned, grabbing a hammer and carefully slotting the plank into place.

The soft giggle sounded again. I know that I heard it, and Usopp whipped around, as if trying to find the source but shrugged it off when it didn’t happen again.

“Don’t pay them any mind, Usopp. They were just a bunch of idiots.”

Sanji was correct, of course, but I wondered if he knew of Wapol, at least in passing. I know that Vivi had, so it would make sense that Sanji might have.

“More importantly, it’s been pretty damn cold for a while now.”

“That’s for damn sure.” The nail that I had been hammering slipped and almost went through my finger. “Fuck!”

“You alright Ebony?”

“ **Damn** **it!** It’s just this hammer, I just keep _slipping_.”

This set Sanji off, not at me, but at Usopp for making a ‘ _lady do the work while your slacking off!_ ’

“It’s all good, Sanji! I’ve got to pull my weight around here!”

“The weather is proof that we’re close to an island.” Vivi had come out on deck, it was Zoro and Luffy’s turn to watch over Nami. (Zoro was there to make sure Luffy followed the instructions Vivi and I had left and not do anything stupid.) “Sanji, watch carefully for land on the horizon please!”

“ _Sure_ _thing_!”

“There must be a winter island nearby.”

“Winter island?”

I whimpered, I was going to be an absolute nuisance for this entire trip, but cold weather always brought the worst out in me. I wasn’t used to it at all.

“In terms of climate, the islands along the Grand Line are classified in four different ways.” Vivi explained, “Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter, after the seasons. And each of these four types generally have four seasons of their own. You really need to be able to survive sixteen different seasons in one go if you really think about it.”

Well, different seasons in one go was something that I could comfortably say that I was used to.

“The Grand Line is incredibly unpredictable and every island would have their own distinct climates, which is why if the climate is consistent on the Grand Line that means that you’re close to an island.”

“She’s right!” Sanji called from the watch tower, “There’s land up ahead! LAND AHOY!”

Hearing the running feet of the Captain and having completed the hammering of the planks, I decided that it would be best to go and check up on Nami, passing the captain on the way down.

“How’s everything going?”

Luffy turned to me, still running, “She’s going to be better soon! We can get her a doctor!”

I gave him a grin and a thumbs up and continued on my way, shouting back at him.

“You might need a coat, Captain!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your continued support! I'm not sure when the next update will be, as I'm in my third week back at university and it's getting pretty hectic already and there's not a whole lot of time for me to do personal projects (such as this fic), but I can guarantee that the next update will be in the next month or so.


	12. veneficae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _[ veneficae - mixer of posions, witch ]_
> 
>  
> 
> Ebony learns a thing and Luffy isn't allowed to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sort of feels like half a filler, but it's not? I think it's because this point in the manga was more plot and story than action and fighting. (Not going to complain, I want to try and flesh out Ebony more and this will probably help.)
> 
> I hope that you enjoy this chapter, regardless!

I heard a gunshot ring out and rushed upstairs. Vivi was lying on the deck, clutching at her arm in pain.

“How **dare** you!”

The Captain was furious and readied himself to take out the offender with a gum gum pistol, but before he could Vivi had grabbed a hold of his leg.

“ **Wait**! This isn’t a problem you can solve by fighting! The bullet only grazed my arm, don’t worry about me!”

Vivi, whilst down on the ground bent her head. “I _beg_ of you, we promise not to set foot on your country, could you please just call over a doctor! Our friend is gravely I’ll and in much pain! _Please help her!_ ”

The proud Princess of Alabasta laid her head against the deck, a momentary silence ringing out.

I walked calmly towards where the Captain stood.

“Please, _Luffy_ ,” He abruptly turned towards me. I very rarely called him by name, so for me to do so he knew that the situation was serious, dire even. “This cannot be solved with your fists, we have to use our words for this.”

“Luffy, you’re failing to carry out your Captain duties, recklessly fighting isn’t always going to solve things.”

“We _can’t_ fight; _not_ this time, Captain. We haven’t got that luxury. **Nami** hasn’t got that luxury.”

Vivi and I seemed to get through to him, as the steel in his eyes retreated a little, and retreated further at the sound of our ill friend's name.

“ _Sorry_! I was wrong!” Luffy then promptly got down next to Vivi,on his hands and knees in apology and to bed for a doctor.

“We only ask for a doctor!” The Future King of the Pirates lay down his pride, “ **Please** save our friend!”

I had walked back towards the others in the silence that followed. When I reached them, I tapped Usopp on the wrist.

“I’m going to check on Nami.”

He nodded, eyes sharp, still looking at the guns surrounding us all.

I heard as I was halfway down the stairs the sound of the anchor being lifted and a warning was being said about the doctor.

“There is only _one_ doctor in this country and she so happens to be a witch.”

The sound of disbelief from the crew was almost music to my ears.

 

* * *

 

 

Sabo was almost at his intended destination of Alabasta, the small boat not too far ahead of his own clearly having the same intentions. He, however, still had yet to contact Ebony. He didn’t know why, but something was telling him that it wouldn’t be the best time to do so, whether that was on his part or on hers, he wasn’t too sure.

It was probably his. He hasn’t quite come to grips with his memories slowly coming back to him, small habits and mannerisms that he always had had we’re becoming more prominent as the reasons for those were slowly returning. Like his accent, that he had never lost. The upper class noble accent that he had always hated having made a lot more sense now, knowing that he was technically a nobleman, a runaway one, but still one by birth. And his eating habits, always snatching something off another’s plate or hiding his own away. Luffy and ace had left their marks on him, even without his memories, in ways that would never be forgotten.

He stood up, shaking himself out. He didn’t have too far to go now; he’d ring Ebony, he decided, in the next few hours.

 **Maybe**.

_(Koala would berate him when he got back if he didn’t.)_

 

* * *

 

 

Readying Nami, Vivi and I had to shoo the boys out of the room so that we could get her in clothing that wouldn’t make her freeze. Thankfully, she was awake enough that we only needed to help her out rather than the alternative. I had offered to carry her, but Sanji lifted Nami onto his back with ease. (Zoro was going to be staying behind with Carue to protect the ship. And the green haired idiot had decided that his legs were fine, now and that he could get right back into training. I scolded him and warned him to not take it too fast or otherwise he would be back to square one. He grinned sheepishly and told me not to worry. I would though, it’s what I did, worry.)

“This country has no name, as of yet.”

“Is that _even_ _possible_?”

“They’re probably in between governments or something.”

“That sounds about right, this country was initially amonarchy though.”

Our short conversation was interrupted by the terrified shrieking of Usopp.

“EVERYONE PLAY DEAD! **IT’S A BEAR!** ”

And so it was. A rather large bear, using a walking stick to make their way through the snow.

“It’s just a hiking bear, it poses no danger.”

The man who was leading us into town turned towards us, “But mind your hiking manners and don’t forget to bow.”

And so we did, every single one of us, except for Usopp who was still lying on the ground, cowering away.

As we made our way into the town, there were a number of mistrustful stares from onlookers and even some children were ushered inside their homes. It hurt a little, but I did understand; pirates weren’t to be trusted by outsiders, criminals they were at best and murderers, pillagers at worst. (Thank the gods that Luffy wasn’t like that, only fighting when he truly felt like it, for his own strange sense of justice in the world.)

“So, _this_ is our town.” Our guide used his arm to demonstrate.

“Thank you for this, we really appreciate it.” I bowed my head in thanks; they were really taking a chance on the fact that all we wanted was to cure our navigator and not destroy or hurt anybody.

“There’s some really weird animals walking around!” “This is a real snow country, that’s for sure!”

Usopp and Luffy had stars in their eyes, making them look even younger than they were.

“Nami, we’re in a town! Finally!” Sanji was speaking, lowered voice, so as to not disturb our sick crew mate too much. Nami let out a small sound of acknowledgement and fell silent.

I made my way over to Nami and Sanji and placed a hand on Nami’s forehead, immediately removing it.

“Okay, okay.” Her fever had gone up again. This wasn’t good, we had to get her to a doctor and fast.

Sanji looked at me worryingly, “She’s going to get better, _right_?”

I had to remember that I was currently the oldest member of the crew and that everyone else were still teenagers. True, it hadn’t been long since I myself were a teenager, but there seemed to be a certain amount of responsibility with being your (very) early twenties.

“If we can get her to a doctor as quickly as possible, but if _not_.” I didn’t want to lie, and I wasn’t going to.

Sanji’s lower lip trembled, as if he were about to start crying. I put my hand on his shoulder, carefully so that I didn’t disturb Nami.

“Everything is going to be fine, Sanji.”

He smiled at me, a small genuine one, blushing a little.

The two of us, three if you included Nami, had missed an entire interaction behind us as Vivi tugged on my sleeve to get our attention.

“Let’s get Nami inside.”

Following our guide into the home, he introduced himself.

“My apologies for the belated introduction, my name is Dalton and it is my job to guard this island. Please forgive our hostile welcome.”

Sanji lifted Nami off of his back and gently laid her down onto the bed, where Vivi and I covered her up with several blankets.

Dalton turned to both Vivi and Sanji and gave them an odd look as if he was trying to place their faces.

“I’d like to ask the two of you something, I get the feeling that I’ve seen you both somewhere before.”

The two froze up.

 _Royalty_ , I had forgotten that Dalton would have been to at least one Reverie and both the blonde cook and the blue-haired Princess had probably been to at least one in their childhood (at least before Sanji had run).

“ _Y_ - _you_ must be imagining things…” “I don’t _believe_ so, sorry.”

I interrupted before Dalton could place their faces, “Would you be able to tell us more about this so-called witch?”

He turned towards me and nodded. He’d respect their need for privacy, even though he definitely knew their faces from somewhere and he was sure that it hadn’t been from around this island. Both Vivi and Sanji let out a sigh of relief that they probably didn’t know that they were holding back.

“From the window, you should be able to see mountains.”

Unfortunately, all we were able to see was a towering snowman, that both Luffy and Usopp were swinging off of.

“I’ll go get the children.” I sighed, but before I could get up and leave Sanji placed a hand on my shoulder and shook his head, before storming out of the house to get them himself.

Moments later he appeared, snowman demolished by a foot and two pouting teenagers following behind.

Dalton smiled a little, before continuing. “those mountains are called the Drum Rockies. There’s a castle right on top of the tallest mountain in the middle. Presently, the castle doesn’t have a king.”

“A _castle_?” “I can see it alright.” “ _No_ _king_?”

“Dr Kureha, she is the lone doctor in this entire country, the one they call a witch. She lives in that castle on top of the mountain.”

“ **What**?”

“Of all the places she has to be, it has to be there.” Sanji bit his cigarette in half out of frustration.

“Is there a way to get into contact with her? To get her to come here, rather than going to her?” Nami’s temperature had gone up to fourty-two degrees, and I really didn’t want the others to panic, but if we didn’t get her to a doctor soon she was going to die.

“Unfortunately not, she’s a brilliant doctor with a love of sugared plums, but she’s a bit of a kook and almost one-hundred and fourty years old.”

“One hundred and fourty? **And she’s still alive?** ” “What do people do in this country if someone is sick or injured?”

“She does come down from the mountain whenever she feels like it, find patients to treat and afterwards takes whatever she feels like from her patients' homes as payment.”

“Mean old hag.” “She’s basically a pirate!”

“Does she take things that wouldn’t be missed? Or valuables, like family heirlooms?”

There was an important distinction; if she took important stuff, like family heirlooms or things that were worth a lot of money, then it was sort of extortion. But non-valuables and things that wouldn’t be missed, it wasn’t such a bad thing in my eyes.

“You know what, I’m not entirely sure. She never seems to take things that people need I suppose.”

“How does that old woman even get down from the mountain?”

Vivi was asking the real questions here.

“According to witnesses, she apparently rides down on a sleigh on moonlit nights, cackling away. That’s why people call her a witch.”

_Sounds more like Santa, without the cackling._

“Others have reportedly seen a most _bizarre_ creature travelling along with her.”

Usopp started to mumble about snow monsters and warning us about the snow monsters and _please, oh please don’t let them get me! I want to live!_

“Although she is the countries only doctor, she’s also someone who I’d prefer to have little to do with. In anycase, I’m afraid the only thing you can do is wait until she comes down from the mountain.”

“That can’t be!”

“How the hell is it possible for there to be only one doctor in an entire country?”

Luffy was sitting next to Nami, gently patting (more like slapping, to be perfectly honest) her face, trying to awaken her.

“Hey, Nami!” _Pat! Slap!_ “Nami!” _Pat! Slap!_ “Can you hear me?”

“AND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

Usopp, Sanji and Vivi looked on in shock while I rolled my eyes a little.

“Guys, calm down! He isn’t hurting her!”  
“ _Ah_! You’re awake!” And she was, slowly her eyes opened to look up at Luffy.

“Listen, we can’t get a doctor unless we go up a mountain.” He took a breath, knowing that this wasn’t the best idea, but hat other choice did they have?

_“So we’ll be hiking up!”_

 

* * *

 

 

The outrage from the others was kind of amusing, despite the seriousness of the situation.Nami had finally agreed with something her crazy captain wanted and now everyone else thought she was crazy, too.

(We all had to be a little nuts to join the Straw Hat Pirates.)

Sanji was adamant that he was going along, too. Usopp was almost berating the captain about the dangers ahead.

“Letting Nami fall, even once could mean the end for her! Got it!”

“Got it!” Luffy nodded furiously.

“Hold still, Luffy! I have to tie her tightly around you!” Vivi was carefully tying Nami onto Luffy’s back.

“That should do it, I’ll stay behind. I’d only drag you down if I came along.”

“Me too!”

I was about to volunteer to come along, as well, but Luffy was staring at me.

“Ebony, stay here and protect the others.”

_Huh?_

“Captain?”

“You’re **strong** , stay here and protect them in case something happens.”

That was a lot to take in. Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy thought that I was strong? I hadn’t even shown myself in a fight, yet he thought that I was strong?

Despite my confusion, I agreed with him. “Sure thing, Captain, _you can count on me._ ”

Dalton considered us all for a moment, “If you’re serious about this, I’m not going to stop you but you should at least climb up from the other side. The route to the top from here is full of lapins! They’re extremely violent and carnivorous rabbits; if you come across a pack of them, there’ll be no escaping alive!”

“Rabbits? But we’re in a hurry, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Luffy looked at Sanji, “Right?”

“Yeah.” He reassured the captain, “I’ll kick any that get in our way.”

“Be careful, you three. Lapins are no joke.” I interjected and got nods from the two conscious.

“Alright! Let’s go, Sanji!” Luffy took off, Sanji not far behind him. “Before Nami dies!”

“DON’T SAY THAT, **YOU** **IDIOT**!”

The two ran off in the direction of the tallest mountain, Sanji scolding Luffy. We all watched them as they disappeared into the distance.

“I wonder if they’ll really be okay.” Dalton seemed a little concerned.

I laughed and Usopp turned to Dalton, “No need to worry, those two will be fine.”

“The problem is whether or no Nami can hold on that long.”

“She’s stronger than what most people think, she’ll be okay.”

Another moment of silence, the wind seeming to get stronger and the snow falling heavier than before.

“What’s wrong? You should come inside already, it’s already rather cold out here.”

Vivi and Usopp looked towards me. Apparently, as Luffy had ordered me to stay behind and protect the others, despite Usopp’s clear seniority within the crew, I had been elected leader.

I shook my head, “I think we’ll wait out here for the moment.”

“I want to stay outside for now!” “Me too!”

Dalton looked confused, before smiling. “I see, I’ll join you then.” He sat down on the ground, looking out towards the distant mountains.

“It wasn’t like this, not too long ago.”

“Hm?”

“The doctors, I mean. There’s a reason why all of them, save for one disappeared.”

He took in a deep breath, feeling our eyes on him as he told the story.

“Only a few months ago, this country was utterly destroyed at the hands of pirates!”

“That does explain the welcome.”

Vivi and Usopp weren’t exactly as calm as I was.

“ **WHAT**?” “ **THE ENTIRE COUNTRY?** ”

“It does explain it, yes. Everyone here is still uneasy, even at hearing the word ‘pirate’.”

His face turned dark, “The pirate crew was only that of five people. Their captain called himself ‘Blackbeard’… With overwhelming strength, they destroyed our entire country in the blink of an eye.”

“Only five pirates? That’s crazy!” “ **Blackbeard**?”

I froze up. How did I forget that the bastard had been mentioned earlier than any of us had ever met the damn man, how did I forget that he destroyed things wherever he went? I could feel my hands shaking, as the clenched into fists. It was probably a good thing that I wasn’t holding onto anything because I would have broken something. As it was, I could feel my nails break the skin on my palms and blood being drawn.

Dalton had continued on, meaning that I had missed almost the entire second half of the conversation.

“…The name of this country was formerly called the ‘Drum Kingdom’ and the ruler was a man named Wapol. He was truly a most despicable king!”

“That man! Now I remember!” “Wapol?”

“You know him?” Dalton looked shocked, and slightly suspicious.

“Know him? We don’t know jack shit other than him being the pirate who attacked our ship. Of course, I was the one who chased him away.” “Really, Usopp? I distinctly remember Luffy sending him flying.” “Let me have the moment, Ebony, please.” “Not at all.” “But now that I think about it, he did say something about Drum Kingdom.”

Vivi was muttering, “He’s the same man I met when I was a little girl and father took me to the Reverie.”

“Reverie? Who exactly are you?”

Dalton had heard her mutterings, looking even more confused and suspicious.

By this point, the blood on my palms had started to seep out, leaving Vivi to notice.

“Ebony! What happened?”

This definitely drew attention towards myself, and away from Dalton’s suspicious looks towards Vivi.

“You mentioned the **bastard**. I got angry, sorry.”

“The bastard? Wapol?”

“No. **Blackbeard**. Marshall D. Teach.”

Dalton then turned to me, “You know him?”

“No, I know of him.” I took a calming breath. “He’s a betrayer, formerly a son of the Strongest Man, Edward Newgate. A former Whitebeard Pirate.”

“Are you telling the truth?”

“About Blackbeard? Yes.”

I wouldn’t lie when that man was concerned.

“No, about Wapol?”

“What does that mean? You said the country was destroyed, then why is the king alive and playing at being a pirate of all things?”

“Him being a pirate is just a disguise, he’s most likely just loitering around the oceans here waiting for the right time to come back.”

Vivi was confused. “So, Wapol and his men were driven out of the island and forced to become pirates after being unable to fight off the Blackbeard Pirates?”

“No. That’s wrong.” Dalton angrily stated, “Back when the pirates attacked, the King and his Soldiers didn’t even try to mount a resistance.”

“What?” Vivi’s voice shook.

“Once Wapol realised just how strong the pirates were, he simply up and left his country and his people. All the citizens were dismayed by such an act of cowardice committed by their own king.”

“ **AND HE CALLS HIMSELF A KING!** ”

Vivi was angry and shocked.

“Vivi..” Usopp tentatively put a hand on her shoulder, and when she didn’t shrug it off, pulled her into a half hug.

“It’s beyond cruel, how could the king just abandon his people?”

“Not all kings are noble, Vivi. Not all kings want the best for their people. _Some do, some don’t;_ it’s an unfortunate fact of life.” I had to be gentle about this, she hadn’t known anything other than her kind father who always wanted the best for his people.

“Exactly, but thanks to that, Wapol’s reign of tyranny _finally_ came to an end.”

“Huh, the bastard was good for something after all.” I still loathed the man, but even I couldn’t deny that he had done something, not good, but something for this country.

“Sounds like it.” Usopp mustn’t have like the way that I described the man, his voice holding a tone of anger in it towards Blackbeard.

“This island now belongs to those of us who remained behind! The towns are slowly beginning to recover and we’re in the midst of forging a new country. That is why the thing we all dread the most is his return, at this time of great unrest, we must prevent that at all costs.”

“Hence the elections being held.” Dalton nodded.

“For the purpose of creating a better country for a better tomorrow, we must!”

 

* * *

 

 

“Do you think _they’ll_ be okay?”

Sanji was a little worried about the others. The welcome that they had received was weighing heavily on his mind. He certainly knew that Ebony was capable of protecting the others, her movements sharp and her eyes knowing.

“They’ll be fine! Ebony’s there and that Dalton guy is a good guy!”

Luffy trusted Ebony, she knew Ace and knew of Sabo; Ace would never say anything about their brother to someone that he didn’t trust. It was his second most tightly held secret.

“It’s getting pretty cold up here, with all this wind…”

“Why the hell are you still wearing your sandals in this weather? I know Ebony and Vivi-can told you to change them! Just looking at your feet is making me cold!”

“That’s just my police!” _No. Wait. Wrong word._ Luffy wasn’t going to take it back now. He never said anything he didn’t mean.

“ **POLICY**! You mean policy!”

“Is it?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Sanji spied a small rabbit-like creature.

“Careful! I think that thing there is a lapin!”

Sanji wasn’t going to necessarily take the advice of a man, but of a woman, yes. He would be wary of the lapins.

“ **Dodge**!”

Between the two of them, Luffy and Sanji continuously dodged the singular lapin who seemed intent on making them its lunch.

“Apparently people can die if they fall asleep on winter islands!”

“Who told you that? _Usopp_?”

“No! A guy in a bar!”

“That’s **stupid**!”

“That’s what I was told!”

“Then why is there a bed in that guy, Dalton’s, place?”

“Maybe it’s there for when he dies?”

The two narrowly dodged the lapin, who took a chunk out of a tree, causing it to break in half and for Sanji and Luffy to leap over it. Sanji took a quick look back towards the lapin. It looked angry and really confused.

_Ha! Serves it right for trying to eat us and endanger Nami-swan!_

Unfortunately for the three of them, the next movement they made caused the lapin to go flying off into the distance, as Sanji kicked upwards to remove the snow beneath his feet.

“ **Shit**.”

Standing in their way were several large lapins, with shadows behind them, indicating more large lapins in the distance.

“Those are huge. Think they’re polar bears?”

“No, I think that they’re the little shits family.” The little shit in question was the lapin who was trying it’s very hardest to kill them.

The largest one in front suddenly moved, leaping towards them.

“ **IT JUMPED!** ”

The lapin’s powerful front paws narrowly missed Sanji and Luffy, the two of the dodging in different directions to get out of the way.

“HOW CAN IT JUMP LIKE THAT! IT’S LIKE A GORILLA!”

“I thought it was a lapin, or a polar bear. Not a gorilla?” Great and now Sanji had confused his captain.

“It moves like a gorilla! It’s one of those lapins that Dalton warned us about!”

The two looked towards the mountain path, which was covered in lapins of all different sizes, the largest being the one that had just leapt at them.

“There’s so many of them!” Somehow the cigarette that Sanji had in his mouth had survived and was still lit, smoke curling out from his mouth. “It’s got to be expected of such a creature, to move this quickly in the snow. We’re at an unfortunate disadvantage.”

Luffy went to move forward, but Sanji placed a hand in front of him to stop him.

“Don’t lay a hand on them.” “Why not?”

“You’ve got Nami on your back, even though you’d be unaffected by an attack, she wouldn’t be. She’d probably die in this state if something happened.”

The lapin let out a bloodcurdling roar, more like that of a tiger or lion than something you would expect out of the mouth of a rabbit-like creature.

Luffy nodded, “Got it! I won’t fight!”

 

* * *

 

 

This whole _not fighting_ thing was very difficult for him, as Luffy soon found out. He was good at dodging, he’d had plenty of practice attempting to move out of the way of his Gramps so-called Fist of Love, but this was something else entirely. He’d never had to move with something attached to his back and it was slowing him down a lot.

“ **RUN**! BUT DON’T RUN TOO FAST!”

Thanks for the advice Sanji, really.

“FLANCHET SHOOT!”

Sanji kicked downwards, into the larger lapin, sending it flying towards the rest of the pack.

“Damn it! It’s too hard to get any good kicks with this snow!”

The lapin pack twitched in unison, heads cocking to one side before all lunging at once.

“I’LL COVER YOU! RUN INTO THE FOREST!”

Luffy didn’t have much choice but to obey, running as if his life depended on it (which it kind of did), Sanji blocking and defending from behind.

“We’ve got to shake them off!” Sanji still hadn’t managed to drop his cigarette, something that Luffy was currently admiring him for. “If we fought seriously, we’d be here all day!”

“Damn!” Luffy managed to remember not to fight, dodging the lapin that had landed in front of him and Nami.

Spotting a portion of the mountain that seemed possibly climbable, Luffy shouted towards his friend, who was currently doing the splits in midair, kicking two lapins away from them. “Hey, Sanji! We can climb up from here!”

“Alright! Go on ahead!”

Using a few of the adult lapins as a launching point, the two flipped themselves up and over, higher and higher, until they managed to reach the ledge.

Looking back, the pack was still advancing towards the three of them.

**“THEY’RE STILL AFTER US! JUST KEEP RUNNING ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have plans, but I'm not sure when I can put them into the story and not ruin a future point that I may or may not have. I think the plan I have will be coming into play in the next few chapters, so I cannot wait for it to be a. written and b. for you guys to read it!


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